* * * * * 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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@Mop it up

Yeah, that was kinda lame. I found out though (by accident), after you beat those non-hologram guys, you can walk STRAIGHT DOWN out of the Air Castle to your ship, or vice versa. ESCAPIPE/HINAS out, save, and walk about 4 rooms STRAIGHT UP. Pretty neat?

--Gosh, we're not gonna hit (Bad) 100, are we?? I thought it impossible, but stuff escalated pretty quickly.

Koovaps thinks we might only have two weeks left.. Hmm.

EDIT- I'll check for Week 4 stuff in the mernin'. Good luck out there!

Okay, here's the situation, gentlemen (and gentlelady). Where I thought I was going to stop for this week ended up being MUCH closer to the end than I thought. The rest of the content in the game is roughly in line with the previous 2 weeks. Shall I split that over two weeks and allow some catch up or just push through to the end with Week 4 being the last week. I feel terrible about being a poor steward for the game. I was trying to keep play time it 4-5 hours a week, with optional content so you could control how much you choose to play, but it now seems it could easily have been less than that. That 20-40 hour number is baffling to me. It seems stretching the game to 30 would be tough.

Does anybody have an hour count so far? I'm on the PSP, and don't think I can check. I know you should be able to check on the VC, and some people are playing that way. I'm curious.

For now...

Week 4
GOALS

- Use the Eclipse Torch and get to Garuberk Tower!

- Find yourself back on Motavia and enter and complete Soldiers Temple.

Optional Content

- After Garuberk Tower, the final four Hunter's Guild missions will be available.

@Koovaps

Haha, its tough to figure these things out. Don't take it so hard, I think you've done a great job. Last week was pretty meaty, but what can ya do? I don't blame you, and I hope others don't either.

Woo, Week 4! I'll start on it toniiiight.

My save state file on the PS3 version says 12:45 is what I've played so far.

DeputyVanHalen said:

I spent so much time wandering around there that I'm at level 38.

Mr_Mustache said:

Haha, I'm like Lv35.

Mop it up said:

I'm at lvl 40 now though

Holy crap. I'm at like 30-31 and haven't had any real trouble since the Ladea Tower in the second week. You guys could probably win boss battles with pure Attack macros...

@nate38

No way. I got tossed last time. I've been healin' and revivin' -- beebopin' and scattin' -- like NUTS.

@Mr_Mustache

Thanks. The Air Castle definitely bloated last week a little bit. I was definitely counting on some of the end game to take longer.

@DeputyVanHalen
Okay, this is about exactly what I was shooting for, hour wise. Save states probably saved me a couple hours of hassle over the course of the game in the few spots, and those honestly only happened for me up to week 3. Hope I didn't push the pace too much, fellas.

Also, based on the levels you guys are at, you all should be just fine.

@Koovaps

Have you confirmed that next week is the last week?

@Mr_Mustache

Yes, next week is the last week. Not much left in the game at all.

@Koovaps

Wow. That seems surprising to me! I felt like this game was just kickin' into gear!

What the, this thing is only 5 weeks long!? Well, I'll probably still be at week 2 or 3 when you are all finishing.

@Zero

Are you in Week 2 now? I still have you on Week 1.

I've been in week 2 forever! I haven't given up, it's just been an insanely busy last few weeks. Also week 2 kept kicking my butt so I ended up spending probably a good 2 hours just leveling up at various places.

A conversation that just happened:
"How far are you in Phantasy Star?"
"I'm on the frozen planet for the second time and dying a lot. It's annoying that I have no idea what any of these spells do, what with their crazy names."
"You should fuck around with them and try them out."
"Why do they have to be so damned obtuse?!"
"Y cant metroid crawl?"
"You get your (heavily censored) ass out of here."

Ah, marriage. (Really, we joke around and laugh a lot; we were both very giggly after the above exchange.)

@VickiL

Haha! "Y cant metroid crawl?" Awesome.

The question remains though... Why can't he?

@Mr_Mustache
No elbows.

I think I'll star Week 4 late, late tonight. Here I come, you f'n man-eating trees!

@VickiL

Ha! Hilarious.

@Koovaps

Assuming beating Dark Force for the third time is the end of this week, I'm done. I'm going to do some hunter missions though.

Should we march right into Shining Force II after this (and a bye week or two)? It was the only other game that received multiple votes in that mildly unsuccessful Poll. I know there was a good deal of spoken interest about it, and a bit of disappointment when it didn't get selected.

Also, I don't believe our Ogre Battle / 64 folks are ready yet.. Any more news on Earthbound?
(Still marked as "Late 2013;" I do believe we're safely in there. By..a lot. I'll guess November 19th for the release.)