* * * * * 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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Boss fights are the one time I use status effects like barrier and that one Rika knows that raises agility.

@gojira

I open up with Barrier, too. How long does it last? Also, do we keep needed to reapplying PSY-WAND after the initial use? Is that what its called?

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EDIT- For the folks in Week 3, are there any Macro "Triblaster" type spells out there still? Pretty empty on my front..

@gojira Yeah boss fights are much more manageable with status ups. On the first turn I always have Rika use DEBAN and Demi/Wren use BARRIER first to get party defense up. Next turn Rika uses SANER to get agility up, which makes the boss attack last so I don't have to worry that someone might get KO'd before the healer heals them. And if Gryz is there he uses WAR CRY right away. That's about all there is as far as status ups go.

@Mr_Mustache I think status ups stay until the character is KO'd? I'm not sure, but once I use SANER my characters are all faster than the boss for the remainder of the battle, except after they get KO'd and revived. I assume the defense ups work the same way.

And I haven't discovered any combination techs. I never use them anyway.

@Zero What are your levels? Perhaps I can offer a strategy that might help you though it.

@nate38

I was using Triblaster like CRAZY before.

And thanks for those tips, I'll DEFINITELY employ those on my next outing.

@Mop it up

Last I heard he was Lv10 on that brown bug mini-boss / boss thing with wings.

--Are you still working on Week 2?

@Mop it up

Sorry.

@Mr_Mustache

You can do combination attacks outside of macros which is how I found - Rune: Efess + Chaz: Crosscut = Grandcross

I think I found this one just using my most powerful magic - Rune: Nafoi or Kyra: Gifoi + Chaz: Gian = Fire Storm

@gojira

Cool, thanks. You're a pinch ahead of me, but I can dig it.

What the H, are GUMBIOUS and GARUBUREK TOWER the same thing?! Why aren't they named the same thing?!

@Mr_Mustache

No, they're different. Gumbious Temple is where you go to get the Eclipse Torch. Garuberk Tower is what's causing the weather issues on Dezolis and is behind that crazy forest you couldn't get past, for which you need said Eclipse Torch.

For me, Rika does more damage with doubleslash than Chad does, but she's fast so she's always stuck on healing duty.

That fight was really hard, Zero. But then I realized Rune's Revel was a Life spell and Demi had some ability that could raise all dead party members. Revel won't raise Demi, but I found a repair kit somewhere that did the job. Basically, I spent the entire battle raising and hitting hard as I could whenever someone who couldn't heal was alive.

@VickiL It would be nice if the game told me that I have revive spells?! ARGHHHHH.

I do the same thing with boss fights. I buff everyone with DEBAN and SANER and it typically makes the fights much more manageable. I also typically reserve all my MP for use in boss fights, although my two current mages have so much MP that I can use it pretty freely in random battles and still have enough to slap around bosses. I actually switched both of them over to double shields and have them cast every turn now.

I finished the Dark Force battle last night with everyone still alive too. Wren was the only one that went down part way through the battle, but a repair kit fixed that. Speaking of which, good tip for android characters... only use a repair kit on them once they are dead. It will always refill their health to max so using it before hand is kind of a waste. I also noticed that they regenerate health without the need for items/spells. I know it happens between battles, but I haven't really paid attention to if it happens in battle. Has anyone else noticed?

@Zero

Agreed. I kept warping back to towns to revive dead players until I remembered what REVER did.

Zero, do you run away from a lot of random battles or are you using a guide? Whenever I use a guide for old RPGs I always end up under leveled because you get into a lot fewer random battles when you know where you're supposed to go and don't have to explore. So far I haven't really felt under leveled at any point. And compared to the angering difficulty of PS2 (which I actually needed a guide for) this game seems much more well paced and balanced.

Non-game related note: After reading through 2 pages of criticism about this thread, I finally deduced what the "OP" is (NW is the first time I've ever really used a forum). Now I want to know what "OP" stands for. Anyone?

"Original post".

I'm not using a guide. Lately I have ended up forced to run from fights to stay alive, but generally I do not.

Not sure why I'm so underleveled!

Yeah, those spell names. That annoys me about this game. It didn't take much work to figure out and remember what "Fira" or "Frizz" or "Blaze" did. But I still can't say off the top of my head what the fire spell is in this game. I just use some of Rune's higher-cost spells are until one does more damage, then I keep spamming that.

@Koovaps

AH. THANK YOU.

BTW, Air Tower kicked my A last night. Way longer than I expected it to be, and I died on the Boss Fight. I'm 90% sure I'm going to ESCAPIPE out and save when I'm done Looting the place, and just take the "direct" route next time I go in. Losing a bunch of time? Sure, but beats the hell out of doing it again.

@VickiL

Yeah, I've got her on Healing duty, too!

@Zero

Do you? They don't come by default.

@Jew Drop

They don't regenerate in fight, but will reset to 1 HP as soon as it ends. Speaking of Repar Kits, in the WeaponCenter? or whatever its called, I found an endless supply, woo hoo!

@VickiL

Haha, that too!

I found another Combo Spell last night by accident. I've now forgotten it. I know that one half of it was Wren's BlastRoc, and the other half was Fire of some sort by somebody. I can't remember these wild names exactly, sorry.

Vicki says that Rune and Demi both have revive type deals.

@Zero Vicki says a lot of things!

Demi's tech is called Medic Power, I think. It affects all party members as a heal spell and revives any that are at zero. I'm pretty sure she comes with it by default but can only use it two or three times.
Rune's Revel doesn't show up until he's like level 20 or 21. I can't remember if he had it right when he rejoined my party or if he learned it on the way up to the boss.

Oh geez level 20? I'm still at around 15. Hmm, but wait, he might be a lot higher than the rest of my characters?