* * * * * 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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URL to share (right click and copy)

@Mop it up

I'm going to try to my hardest..

EDIT- Getting an Economizer or a Tintinibar is a bitch though, isn't it?? I seem to recall those being near impossible to get, almost to the point of legendary / mythological status. Am I mistaken? I've probably owned both before, but yeah.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

What was the response from last time? Something I said? Someone else said?


As for guest DM'ing, I like to think of this thing as almost NOT having a "guest" DM, just whoever happens to run it. I'm more than open to experience other games on someone else's terms, especially one I'm not familiar with. I'd probably run Final Fantasy III, but if someone else was up to the task, by all means! It'd probably be better that way in a sense, as I've said before, I tend to fill up the plate..

These penguins have all the deductive reasoning skills of Gumshoe and The Judge (Phoenix Wright) all rolled up into one oblivious, jump-to-conclusions mass of penguin-ity.

Edit: And now I am done for the week.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Ohhhh, yeahhh, I guess that did happen. It wasn't really "a bunch of people" so much as "one or two guys, and then some other people were talking a bunch." Ah well. It feels like its been a while....

--

I'll put a good dent in Week 7 tonight, if not the whole deal. How long did it take you guys?

Hope it isn't a big deal but I already completed the game. It's actually kind of tough for me to limit myself to playing a certain amount of a game in a week, as I typically don't like to play very many games at one time, so I decided to finish it so I could move on.

@Mr_Mustache The one Tintinabar you can get that isn't from a monster drop is missable, but it's easy to get if you know how. The Economizer can be difficult to get if you aren't prepared, but if you do have a few key magic spells learned then it's just a matter of waiting for the rare enemy encounter to occur. I think the Gem Box is harder to get than the Economizer.

@Mop it up

ooooh, MOP! I need to buy you a Patience Belt..


Final Fantasy III, I don't even know if I know what Gem Box is offhand. Doesn't sound familiar. Do I? I'll hazard a guess at some sort of MP enhancer?

@Mr_Mustache The Gem Box is an accessory that lets a character use two spells in one turn. Mix with the Economizer and the spell Quick for a truly overpowered character.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule Make no mistake, I have nothing but praise for you. You did a fine job managing the game, with good direction and a few suggestions for side stuff. Thanks for hosting!

I've been a slackbutt this week (or a tired dude) and didn't get to Week 7 yet. LAME. I'll polish it off tonight though, as soon as I get home and I'm settled in. Is Week 8 the Final Week? Eek!

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Heyyy...where is Attack FX D? I have A-C, E. HMM.

Finished Week 7, I'll get on Week 8 tomorrow, yeaaaah!

Just finished up the game. Woo.

Totally down for Illusion of Gaia. For those who don't have an SNES...just emulate it or something. It's an awesome game. It's not the game with the best story or anything, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The gameplay kicks ass, the music is one of the best soundtracks on the SNES, and parts of it can be pretty eerie or make you think. One of my all time faves.

I'd love to give Terranigma another try too, but of course, THAT would definitely have to be done with emulation. I wasn't in love with it because I didn't think there was really that much of a story, but the gameplay, man, that is awesome stuff. By far one of the best gameplay found in an action RPG ever.

It's also a semi short game, not nearly as long as something like FF6. Definitely under 20 hours.

I couldn't do Illusion of Gaia. Chrono Trigger is relatively short (20 hours or so) and once you finish it, you can take your gear and levels into a New Game+ file. Then go for all of the endings!

@ludist210

No IoG? Why not? I bought a cartridge years ago (gosh, its really year's' now) to play here, never touched it. Not up for that emulation poop? I can understand that approach. If you're up for a cartridge, I found it pretty cheap on eBay. 10 bucks or so?

@PogueSquadron

Thinking about it, I'd actually like to do something without such heavy lifting right now either. Paper Mario was a good break, but another good break would be..good, haha.

I think there's a couple places in Illusion of Gaia where you can get stuck (possibly some obscureness in a couple spots as to what you're supposed to do, especially towards the end of the game), but overall I think it's a pretty brisk game. The gameplay is very Zelda-ish. I don't know if you could REALLY call it an Action RPG. Yes, you can Attack, Defense, or HP upon 'leveling up' (i.e. defeating all enemies in a room) but you don't choose which one you get, and there isn't really any character customization. I feel like it's kind of like a Zelda game but with way less puzzle solving. In terms of just hacking and slashing, I feel like the combat is incredibly satisfying. There's something visceral about it.

I can understand not wanting to go with emulation, but if you don't have an SNES, it's basically the only way you can play it. Square Enix is mostly kind of allergic to the Virtual Console. It's such a shame. Do they even have any presence on Wii U right now? Blegh.

Illusion of Gaia would be a pretty cool game to play with you guys as it is a very solid game from Enix and Quintet. And like they say it is a pretty cheap game on the used game market if you want to go that way. Juding by Amazon is ranges in the twenty dollar area, which considering it is a pretty niche game is pretty good. I would of half expected the game to start going up in price for some absurd reason.

So... I finished the game! I completely blissfully forgot about the thread and played through the end way too early (five weeks ago, to be more precise).

Went for a BP run (sort of) after upgrading Flower Points once and it went all smooth until chapter 4/5. Getting the HP/FP plus badges was a good way of compensating for the potential difficulties and nasty troubles I could have. Then again, hearts and flowers drop one time or another from enemies, so that's a good relief. If you narrow down the blocking moments and get some Lucky badges on, it goes mostly fine. I did slip periodically during walks around the desert area in chapter 2, where you derp around trying to find the ruins and fainted a couple of times.
Mid chapter 5, I had 30 Badge Points already, so I started to invest on FP. That means I wouldn't need to potentially return long ways on foot in order to heal for free and that I could start to focus on bringing more health/support items with me (ooh, the satisfcation!).
Chapter 6 was a grindfest. Took some time I had in the afternoon, kept going back for Amazy Dayzees and filled up all my stats, so I wouldn't need to grind anymore ever afterwards. With that said and done, combining with the fact that I've beaten Paper Mario 2 times already, the rest of the game was absolutely a cakeride. I didn't go for 100% this time, though. Got to upgrade Goombario, Parakarry, Watt and Bow twice and was happy with that.

This game is so simple, but so very fun. The dialogue isn't as hilarious as the posterior titles, but it still has the clever moments. It's one of those games I like to go back to from time to time and the Epic Center was just the thing to remind me of it.
I got too excited and rushed through everything way too fast, ignoring the purpose of sharing the adventure and supporting other players. My bad on that. But regardless of not going with the rhythm, it was still very interesting to read people's experiences and just the thought of others playing Paper Mario as well was very comforting.

Hey, it's my first time finishing a game in Epic Center!

@Mr_Mustache

Because I don't have a legal means of playing it.

@chrisbg99

Looks like 9 to 15 on eBay, shipping included. Don't seem to be a lot of bidders once it gets up there.

@ludist210

No SNES about?

@HammerLord

Glad you got to finish, wish you could've talked about it with us in real tiiiime!

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Wednesday looks like the day for me.

GBA-Wii U release calendar has already shaken things up for our next installment.


What do you guys think? Golden Sun sounds probably like the best option for me; I've never played it, but I've heard a bunch of things. Mario & Luigi I'd probably vote to avoid -right now- simply because we just did Paper Mario. Illusion of Gaia on cartridge I'm still up for. Final Fantasy III and Chrono Trigger, perhaps we should hold off on those again. Maybe later this year, like August or something?

And, of course, we still have Skies of Arcadia which never got a run. I could see that as an August game, too.


So yeah, lets hear it. Anything people DON'T want to play? (I wish more people finished Ogre Battle so we could play Ogre Battle 64....)