* * * * * 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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This game sounds fairly complex... is it necessary to follow a guide to get things "right" or can one just ignore it and still play through fine?

I'm ignoring it! I don't know how "right" I will get things though.

@VofEscaflowne

I can only base my opinion on the 3 chapters I've played. So far it's fairly easy to start a game and progress. But there is a lot to the game. And that can be overwhelming. But the fact that you are given preset teams means you can lean as you go along. You maybe won't get the greatest ending but you won't be lost.

Funniest names I have so far are Beastmen named Michelle and Doyle.

@Zero

I saw on the next page that you're "ignoring" something. How did you do? Did you allow anyone to retake anything? Did you get Canopus and/possibly Gilbert? I think you'll be fine; are you TRYING to find stuff and follow "clues?" Also, are you returning to the Scene after you beat it? You can find a lot of stuff in Cities, some can be sold for cold hard cash (Don't sell the HEROSTAR ever). If you have it on the highest speed, and just deploy Zero with no one in his party, you'll be done in like 3-5 minutes. Just go here, go there, go there, voila. No one getting in battle to slow you down, no other units stopping movement. Do it to it.

@gojira

After someone told me about that RFN thing and the guys playing Ogre Battle and how confused they were, its no wonder, actually.

Extra day? Ehhh, you're probably fine. The only thing that will really affect is your Bonus Goth at the end, unless that extra day was Day 8 or something. Your Rep starts to take a hit if you take too long.

No Tarot Cards in 64, right. You CAN see their effects! Hit Select! Select tells you about Items, too. AND you can use Items anywhere on the field, constantly (not sure about EQUIPPING though); I had to dole out some Cures (whatever the 50 HP variety is) twice on a guy in that last boss fight, between rushes. He was taking a beating!

@VofEscaflowne

You can play it like Zero is, or you can read my stuff that I put up each week. I've cut the fat for you, you should be able to proceed 100% with any hints I provide you. Of course, if you want to look more in depth, that it something else. BTW, if someone else hits a snag that I may've caused, please let me know ASAP.

@chrisbg99

Haha! Michelle must be a French Beastman or something. One of the Fighters from my Lord unit was named Goazer. I know it isn't spelled exactly right, but they give me the most horrible entity from the Ghostbusters universe right next to my horribly Evil Me, haha. *sigh* He was flanked by another Fighter, Bean.

@Mr_Mustache I got the first guy you listed, missed the second guy. But see, to me getting these "secret" characters is more fun when it feels like I'm discovering something! If I just follow a guide, it's not even a secret character, it's just doing A to get B like you would with anything.

I'm sure I'm missing some secrets, but the way the maps are set out make it kind of obvious where some of the secrets will be. For one, you can just follow the roads, many of which appear to lead to nowhere ...BUT DO THEY?

I doubt I will go back to maps after I finish them though unless I run into roadblocks. I'll just get what I get when I get it and see where that takes me.

@Zero

Yeah, thats cool. I never got Gilbert for years, and when I got him one day, I was like "wait..what??" Its weird that you can play something for so long, and never have something go your way. Thats fine that you're playing that way, its how I used to do it! I'm going for 100% this time though, so I'm leaning heavily on a walkthrough. I got nearly everyone before on my own, so I don't feel like its cheating. If you want to be an intrepid explorer, I think thats great. And yes, you're mostly right about roads, and clearing, and islands and so forth.

--Going back to maps: those things are ONLY given to you on the 'go back.' These're things you'd never see while just doing the map the first time. After a leader of an area falls, hearts change!

Quick Question: Might we be running straight into Ogre Battle 64 once we have concluded this one? I remember hearing mumblings about steam running out during the Fire Emblem plays, but I suspect that if the newsletter keeps going out regularly, we can keep people informed about its progress, even if they aren't participating directly. Sort of a "Last Time on Negative World..." deal.

@Mr_Mustache

But if I'm in battle and I choose to use a tarot card and I press select to see what it does it just cancels back to the previous selection menu.

Oh, and I got the characters in ch3 99% on my own. I double checked that beating the last guy was how you recruited him. But other than that I figured the rest out.

@Dark Weres

I definitely, assuredly want to. Its not just a Fire Emblem or an Ogre Battle thing though either; I'm pretty sure most of the people in this thread, reading this thread, are the types of people who'd play. I don't believe that we're missing out on a lot of people BECAUSE of game selection. I mean, I COULD be wrong, but I'd never know it. I know that ShadowLink didn't want to play Ogre Battle specifically, so we could maybe see him again in the future. And I know that there is a huge Secret of Mana thirst abound, too, but those folks might be more apt to play it in the comfort of their own homes and at their own pace. I greatly enjoy the group atmosphere, obviously, and I've played these games before so I like to get people opinions of the games then, the games now, and tips that they find work in a certain way.

TIP OF THE DAY: I forgot to mention that Amazons prefer All-Female units. Infinitely more important in OB64..

@gojira

Awesome. Like I said, I went my entire childhood without it happening. Must've got the final blow with someone else. I generally send about 4-5 units the Boss to keep 'em on their heels (they refresh WAY quicker than you can ever hope to in a normal town). Also, know that you can Retreat from battle if you want to get extra strategic about it. If you're fighting a Back Row Boss and you have to cut down the guys in front, know that if you kill the guy, and NOT the boss, he'll have a brand new 100+ HP guy right back where the other dude was. Might be smart to whittle everyone down to 30 or so HP (if you only have direct attacks) and high tailing it out of there for your fresh group.

And yes, sorry, I guess you can't see what Tarots do during battle. Off the top of my head (from YEEEARS ago), Chariot does straight damage, Hermit (right?) does an awesome lightning attack. Sun attacks BOTH sides, affecting the lowest ALI characters the most, but I never liked it for that reason as I was never "right up there" with a lot of my guys; Moon reverses group order, front to back, back to front (see ya later, Wizards!!). Tower does an Earthquake, Death kills off guys..nearing death, World protects from Magic Attacks, Justice does some Ice Attack. Oh, and Fool makes everyone but the Boss run away. Nice! I get mixed up on Emperor and Priestess and Temperance and all that. You can read your cards from the command bar.

Is that what we're calling it? "Command Bar."

@Mr_Mustache

I'm not sure if it was my OB64 tactics coming back up in my mind, but I was definitely doing some strategic whittling and retreating. I was also mixing up my attack tactics a bunch (i.e. attack leader or weakest). Knowing how that and the lanes work (for the most part) make this game much less obtuse.

Took a break in the middle of the third map. Enemies just keep on coming at me. Will they eventually slow down, or do I have to force my way by them? Hope to get this map done soon, then I want to explore it more later before next week.

I really need to figure out how much time I'm going to be able to sink into this. I've got Fire Emblem: Awakening coming out soon, and I don't really want to play those games in tandem.

What to do, what to do...

@gojira

Yeah, those lanes.. I had Nikki just playing, and discovered (I guess I wasn't sure), that if you have a guy in the top of the first row, and there is an enemy in the top of their row, you CAN'T attack the middle, even if you have it set to leader. Blah!

@Koovaps

They will slow down. Are you wiping them out or letting them retreat? If they retreat, they'll head back to a town and recharge / recruit new guys to replace their dead. You should wipe them out. I like to have a quick unit (I had an Octopus group at the ready, hanging in the bay -- one Octopus, and whoever else; Nikki was using Octopus front middle, a Fighter in front top or bottom, and then an Amazon and Wizard in the back. It worked very well) on deck to mop up. Good stuff.

There is a set number of units. Apparently there are 12 units in Scene 3 who come after you. Of course, like I said, if you let them get away, they'll come back and look brand spanking new.

@GameDadGrant

You're going to get an Atomic Drop, buster..

It's difficult to juggle two strategy RPGs at once, is all. I guess I'll see how involving this Ogre Battle game is.

This isn't an issue for you, Mr. I-Only-Play-Nintendo-Consoles! You don't have as many games to play...!

@GameDadGrant

OH LORD!, you missed Chat tonight. I have -PLENTY- to play.

@Mr_Mustache I'm a witness to that. Definitely a lot to play through!

Now it's time to make the important choice and drop everything to play DKCR.

@PogueSquadron

I want Nikki to get through DKC3 with me first. She wasn't a fan of 2, soooo.. (Neither am I after last run, BLAH)

Bad internet cut me out of chat earlier. Boo! I did finish the third map, so there's that. I plan on going back in and cleaning up soon. I'll also probably spend some time switching up my guys and making new teams.

Is that Mr. Perfect up there? He was my favorite!

Still have to get around to finish Chapter 2 and 3. Uggh, i'll do it on Saturday.