* * * * * 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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Finished up our Week 4 (it was like another 20 minutes, ugh), and then I leveled up all of the magic to 7. That...took longer than 20 minutes. *phew* Hopefully we'll be doing Week 5 in its entirety tomorrow, and then starting Week 6 on Sunday before finishing up later in the week. And YES, I'll be looking for hours for that elusive 9th Sword Orb that the internet apparently has no idea exists, though I've seen it with my very own eyes. Jerks.

@Shadowlink

Maybe we can find something smaller then. You know what would be RAD? A 10 hour RPG. There has to be one somewhere, yes?

WEEK 6 - The stunning conclusion of Secret of Mana: "Secrets Revealed!"

We've got the TOOLS, we've got the POWER!

-First things first; did you get the Midge Mallet and Moogle Belt? If not, check previous weeks for instructions.
-Talk toJema; he'll direct you to the Pure Land...but first!,
-Neko (means "Cat!") has the best armor than money can buy. Do it up. You CAN find better armor from random drops after this point, however..
-Pure Land is that volcano looking deal that you've seen in the ocean when flying over w/ Flammie. It now has some chives on top (if it were son), and you can land on the green stuff. Woo!
-Work your way through; it won't be easy!
-Thanatos, the ultimate jerk, has ruined things once again. When you're ready, ascend to the Mana Fortress (SI#1).
-The Mana Fortress has the toughest enemies and bosses in the entire game (as you could've guessed). With risk comes reward (SI#2). Fight until you cannot fight anymore (SI#3), and the game will be yours!


Special Instructions #1:
Kinda, fly Flammie towards it. He'll duck up out of the screen, and then go into it. Keep at it.

Special Instructions #2:
Wicked drops in the Mana Fortress: Glove Orb (Wolf Lord), Axe Orb (Fiend Head), Lance Orb (Tsunami), Bow Orb (Metal Crab) (other Orbs in there, too, though this Walkthrough I'm looking at doesn't list them...look around!); Faerie Crown (Terminator), Vampire Cape (Fiend Head), Power Suit (Whimper), Faerie Cloak (Master Ninja), Ninja Gloves (Dark Stalker), Dragon Ring (Ice Thug), Watcher Ring (Eggplant Man), Imp's Ring (Ghost), Amulet Ring (Tsunami), Faerie's Ring (Wolf Lord). Happy Hunting!!

Special Instructions #3:
Mana Beast has a TON of hit points. Be on your best behavior with this guy. The only way to do damage -- I'm told, though I don't remember it so strict -- you need to have the Sprite and Girl cast Mana (under Dryad) on the Boy to power up the Mana Blade. Repeat this process as it wears off, and hopefully you've got enoguh Faerie Walnuts and other items to get you to the end of the game. It WILL be tough.


And thats it! What an awesome game!

Will have to play Monday or Tuesday at the earliest to knock out the last couple weeks.

Made it through the Pure Land. Not easy? Pish. Half a dozen bosses, every one of them a cakewalk.

Mana Fortress later.

I beat two bosses in the Pure Land and got to a save point...I had to grind for cash to afford all of the best armor. Man, without it, I'd go in, kill a few things to get gold, then buy and heal.

I think we're all level 52 now, just beating the Ice Dragon (which wasn't too difficult because of my equipment).

EDIT: Just finished the Pure Land with all characters at level 54. Those bosses were push-overs for the most part.

So I'm in the Mana Fortress, and I beat the first two bosses (and I've read there are two remaining). I almost didn't defeat the Dread Slime because it pinned each character in a different corner, so nobody could move. Fortunately, it moved close enough to the boy and I was using him with a level 7 sword charge. 999 damage (it got whacked) and I'm moving on.

I had to come back from lunch, so I used the Wii's soft save state and will pick it back up tonight or tomorrow (probably tonight). I'm thinking I might leave the Mana Fortress (which will involve backtracking since I can't use the Escape Rope for whatever design reason) to save so I don't lose any progress in case I die soon. I think all of my characters are now around level 58 with most weapon skills maxed out.

So yeah, I did die on my first attempt because four tsunami's trapped two of my characters and would not stop hitting them.

As for my other "Epic Quest", I got the Platinum trophy in FFXIII-2. Now to play the three extra scenarios.

@ludist210

Any awesome Bonus Orb stories in the Mana Fortress?

Picked up a free Glove Orb from a Shapeshifter in the Sunken Isle, which is the same way I got a Sword Orb before.

--Oh, I guess I'll update SI#2 now... Sorry.

@Mr_Mustache

No orbs. Got a couple of Amulets (equipped them on the Girl and the Sprite) and some things that I had too many of, but no orbs.

...aaaaaaand we're all done! Watching the credits roll as we speak. The Mana Beast was a joke of a last boss, as was Thantos...err, Dark Lich.

After backtracking to save and re-entering the Mana Fortress, everyone was level 64 by the time I got to the end boss.

Good game, I enjoyed it. Thanks for giving me the motivation to get it done!

@ludist210

Nice! Congratulations!

And no trouble at the end means that you took care of yourself along the way, it seems. Good job.

@Mr_Mustache

Well I never grinded, so none of my magic was above level 4 (except Girl's Undine since I healed...a lot), but I always switched out weapons once someone maxed one out. So everyone's weapons were pretty high in level by just playing the game. I'm also pretty sure I had almost one million GP by the end.

I just hit the Mana Beast with regular Mana Sword attacks (can't do it with the regular sword...need to revive the Mana Sword each round). I would hit the beast for around 550 at a 100% no-charge attack, 999 on a critical. Four rounds of it flying in and it went down.

Shadowlink said:

@ludist210

You haven't played Skies of Arcadia?!

Oh man. You're going to love it.

Way late responding, but no, I own it, have played it...and I don't like it as much as some people think I should, hence why I still haven't finished it. The battle system is neat, but horribly slow. There are waaaaaaaay too many random battles for my liking.

@ludist210

No grinding? Hmm. I seem to remember the last boss being MUCH harder than you've mentioned. Could be "I was a kid" stuff though. I guess I'll find out soon enough?

@ludist210

Ludisto, what do we wanna play next? Did you want to just go to Ogre Battle 64, and those who didn't catch up; "thats their deal?" I'd prefer not to leave folks behind, but that was a game that YOU were waiting on. Thoughts?

@Mr_Mustache

I'll have to set you know what my next game preference would be. I'm back to being addicted to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, so I might be on that one for a while.

And yeah, I grinded a bit for cash before I went to the Pure Land (and maybe gained one level doing so), but that's it. All of my characters hit level 64 when we defeated Dark Lich. I had the best armor that money could buy (with a few nice drops in the Mana Fortress) with mostly powered weapons. I didn't find it that difficult since I could heal when the Mana Beast flew away.

@ludist210

Oh, I'm on MH3U, too. Tell me about it.

I was hoping for something light and short. I'll have to (or someone else can) check out the VC "soon." What is there from the NES? Those can't be THAT long, right? And usually pretty straight forward.

Played a little today. On my way to The Pure Land.

Some of the enemies in this game are monumentally annoying. The Stone Sword guys? Basically anything that increases its defense, I just skip, because it's so not worth the time.

One thing I've noticed even more lately - this game has an AWESOME soundtrack, but so often, the music cuts out because of all the sound effects going on. It's so jarring! I can rarely listen to all of a song's channels because of the sound effects that keep interrupting.

Edit: I also don't think I've done any grinding, and the game has been fine so far. The bosses are usually a joke because of how much you can spam your magic.

The game feels more manageable too, after getting the Sprite's MP Absorb spell. As long as you have a couple enemies to cast it on, you can replenish your MP. It takes a while, yeah, but you don't have to waste a Faerie Walnut.

@Mr_Mustache

Well then Ogre Battle 64 is out...I heard that takes upwards of 40-60 hours to finish.

For RPGs? Hmmm...Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, but I heard it's not very good. Other than that, I'm out of ideas. I'm tempted to try Legend of the River King on the 3DS VC.

@PogueSquadron

Yeah, you can run past pretty much anything, haha. You don't HAVE to fight anybody you don't want to, but Bosses. Any of those sword things are pretty annoying..

MP Absorb: you might actually be better off casting on ONE enemy. I was doing it on 3 Marmablue's and getting 1 from each..until I accidentally cast it on 1 Marmablue and got 5 MP total. Mehr? Watch it now!

@ludist210

Yeah, Mystic Quest isn't very good. I'd play it though if someone really wanted to. On the topic of "someone really wanted to," I'd like to see us do a game that..someone really wants to. Is Illusion of Gaia within your means? Is Emulation out of bounds for you (or others)?

And finished. And thank fuck for that too. Two hours without a save point? I honestly would have given up had I fallen at the final hurdle.

Unexpected deaths and a the cost of spamming a ridiculously pricy light spell all but exhausted my stock of Faerie Walnuts. So when I saw the last part of the instructions, I was super pissed. More so when I realized Purim's Dryad magic hadn't been raised *at all*.

Luckily Sprite man was at Level 7, and Mana Magic only uses 1 MP- And I was all charged up from mana draining the Lich. Purim had about 46MP left from her last Faerie Walnut, so cure spam was the name of the game over there.

Only had the Mana Sword to level 5 on the boy so it was chip chip chip away. Finally went down. Whoo!

Quick question: I'm on The End screen. Is it like Ocarina? Will it just sit there? I don't want to turn off my console and not save it...


PS.There may or may not be a less than flattering review coming. When I get around to it.

@Mr_Mustache

I don't own a Super Nintendo, nor do I emulate.