* * * * * 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

--------------------------------

URL to share (right click and copy)

@Hero_Of_Hyrule I always use the Speedy Spin badge, always! Mario just moves so dang slowly that I need that extra speed just to move around. It's kind of an annoying way to do movement but it's the only way to move at any sort of decent speed.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule Heh, well it might as well be Yoshi's Island! It even has a version of the Yoshi's Island theme playing. I'm sure it's the colloquial name for the place.

I'll get going late late tonight or tomorrow. One of those!

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

HOH, what did you have in mind for our next game? Was there something you were itching to play?

Pogue mentioned wanting to play Chrono Trigger again (probably independent of the EC, but maybe not?), and it appears that a lot of people haven't played this game for whatever reason. Everyone came out of the woodwork for Earthbound, but Chrono Trigger...my God, it's Chrono Trigger.

Did we already talk about another game after Paper Mario? I can't recall.
(And to confirm, I should be taking a HUGE bite out of Week 5 tonight. How long did it run you?)

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

I'm up for any of those. Maybe not Darklord so much (and what happens w/ the Wii when it goes down?)
I bought Illusion of Gaia (on cartridge) several years ago in preparation of playing with NW people. Never happened.

Super Paper Mario probably wouldn't work. Still waiting for another non-RPG game club to pop up besides RGC. I thought Pokefreak (or Hammerlord? Or both?) were going to make an Adventure Game club years ago. Hmm.


--And outside of Nintendo? That would instantly disqualify me. Boooo to thaaaattttt.

Super Mario RPG did just come up somewhere though. Club Nintendo free game? I can't recall.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule Afraid not, playing it again has only solidified my opinion. That's a part of why I haven't been posting that much in here, I don't want to be a big hater.

@Mop it up

I don't think you're a hater if you dislike a game we're playing. Happens to everyone. What are your issues?
Too simplistic? I know you mentioned slow-moving.. After playing Dragon Warrior recently, nothing moves that slow.

Did you finish Week 4?

Yeah I beat the week four and the week five. They went by pretty quickly so maybe I should use some different badges this time to make things harder.

@Mr_Mustache
I've wanted to make an adventure club forever, but things keep coming up that just sidetrack me completely. I've been barely posting on NW at all this past month if you didn't notice.

@Mr_Mustache@Hero_Of_Hyrule
You guys are forgetting the best JRPG of all time.





EDIT: On the topic of how good Paper Mario is. I enjoy it, but Thousand Year Door outclasses it in every way and if I want an RPG Mario experience, I would choose Thousand Year Door every time.

@Pokefreak911

You're still posting a lot more than other people. ie: where the heck is Anand?
I know you've got some stuff going on; no one is mad at you and everyone feels for you.

And Lufia II isn't available on the VC at all.

@Mr_Mustache
Oh I know that, I still feel kinda bad for not posting more.

And don't remind me... Lufia 2 not being on VC is the greatest shame known to man.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule
...yeah don't get the DS version. I haven't played it, but it's completely different.

Well that is that for this week. Actually one of the easier weeks overall depending on how well you prepare anyways.

A bit of a panic before I started this week; how many Seeds should be planted already?? I have 3...but we're in Week 5 and the Week 5 guy doesn't give you anything, so that suggests to me "you should have 4." Uhhhhh... I don't know how I would've missed the dude. Did I miss something?

Also, before taking The Big Tuna, is there anything that we should take care of? I made my stops by Home, Koopa Koot, Rolf, the Magic Box, traded a new badge for Star Pieces. Anything I missed that you guys can think of? I don't believe that Watt opened anything obvious that was previously closed off (as a better Hammer or someone else would unlock), so yeah. Just proceed as usual?

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Is Mario RPG to the WII (or Wii Mode), or the WII U via Club Nintendo?

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Oooh, Arc Rise Fantasia. I own it, played a bunch of it (while being VERY thorough) before my Wii went down. Didn't finish it, and I don't believe I hit the halfway mark, or even close. I enjoyed it very much though.

I think that game flew under the radar after getting harpooned by some windbag critics for voice acting issues. GOD, turn the volume down or change it to Japanese w/ subtitles.. -OR- hack it, because IT ISN'T THAT BAD.

I'd love to play that one sometime, I honestly wouldn't mind if it was next. (I STILL GOTTA FINISH BREATH OF FIRE II -- SOMEBODY DOES!!)

Oh, I almost forgot, am I the only one who actually gave the Lemon Candy to Anti-Guy instead of fighting him? The poor little guy just wanted a piece of candy, no reason to beat him up over it!

@Mop it up

I didn't even see the option! In fact..I don't think I had Lemon Candy.
Is this whole thing a joke that I'm not part of? Where is Lemon Candy?

Good news: I started making some awesome dishes with Tayce T. DIG IT.
More good news: I rectified my Chuck Quizzmo loss by answer the same question correctly yesterday.
RUSS. T, your name should be SMARR. T! WHYYYY.

@Mr_Mustache I don't remember what kind of clue the game gives you regarding what Anti-Guy wants, since I just remember the item he wanted, but Hero_of_Hyrule did mention in his outline that you can give him Lemon Candy if you don't want to fight. You can make it by cooking up Cake Mix with a Lemon.

@Mop it up

Sweet! How many other Cake Mix things are there? I wouldn't even have considered those, weird. Gosh, the possibilities seem ENDLESS! (Or like 8, I don't know.)

@Hero_Of_Hyrule This is typically what happens with RPGs in the media these days. It doesn't matter what kind of twists they offer or how well made they are, if it has a turn-based battle system then it's automatically considered a plain ol' RPG at best and an archaic, old-fashioned bore-fest at worst.

Not that journalists are especially trustworthy, but I find that their opinions of RPGs are always the most questionable.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

I've talked about "ARF" on here a few times, I think I oozed a bit in the ARF Discussion thread. I really liked a LOT of things that the game did, things that I've never seen in another RPG (until Bravely Default kinda bit part of the battle schematic; in Bravely Default its like "WHOA!!" in ARF its like "PASS." Stinks, man. Consoles get no respect, saw the same Bullsh with Fire Emblem games, until Awakening came out and it gets tagged with BEST GAME EVER from everyone.).

Games like Dragon Warrior force you to "Defend" or Attack for 1 Damage with your White Mages in a non-healing situation, while Arc Rise Fantasia allows your White Mage-ish characters to pass, allowing someone in your party to attack twice, or save up for some huge attack on the next turn. Also, there was some pretty B.A. CHAIN attacks, which we sorta saw in Xenoblade in a sense. Theres also powering up of weapons via a Resident Evil-like attache case thing. You can put as many attributes on weapons as you can so long as you can fit 'em, and if you fill the whole thing out, your weapon gets even stronger (I THINK, ITS BEEN A WHILE). Just totally cool stuff.

I remember this having like THE best in-game Beastiary I've ever seen, too.


--Oh, and I'll be finishing Week 5 tonight. I fell asleep twice while playing earlier in the week, and woke up on my couch this morning at 7:50a instead of playing around 2a as intended and then sleeping in a bed like a normal person.

Man, I hate having to announce this but between falling behind from work trips/incredible work-home stress, and trying to pack up most of my shit in preparation of moving, having this N64 out is just clogging things up. I'd like to finish this but I don't think I'll have time before this is over. I've got another five days out of state coming up and this weekend is full of family stuff. I'm working like mad because of a promotion. I know I'm just full of excuses and I hate that's the case but unfortunately I must halt.

I still haven't even touched the podcast for editing. Ugh. That thing was recorded a week after the Nintendo Direct. Sorry for failing y'all.