* * * * * 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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Actually, my sister cancelled our evening hangin' out, so I'm finished with week 2 now.

@DrFinkelstein Yeah, just use it as much as possible. I think it takes less time than the weapons, because it's two people instead of three, but maybe that's just my perception.

Wall boss thingy is cheap.

DIE. PLEASE DIE.

Nope. I'm spiked. Asshole.

@Shadowlink

Save your magic for when both eyes are dead. Go physical attacks until then. That worked for me.

@Mr_Mustache@ludist210
Both Final Fantasy Adventure and Sword of Mana are great games. I played the crap out of FFA when I was a kid. I remember the final boss slapping me all around quite a few times before I beat him. It also had a pretty great story for a GB game. It was far superior to the actual Final Fantasy titles that hit the GB (Legends series). Sword of Mana was a really great update. They improved the gameplay and graphics quite a bit and added in a whole mess of new story content and side quests. I was a huge fan!

@ludist210
Children of Mana on the other hand wasn't a very good game. It's not terrible. It has many of the same gameplay elements that make the Mana games fun for me. However, the story was crap and I remember it being very repetitive in terms of dungeon layouts and enemies encountered. I played through the entire game and promptly forgot most of it because it was just not nearly as fun as the others in the series.

It's probably because I played this as a kid, but I haven't had nearly as much of a problem with boss fights as everyone else seems to be having. I tried the chain casting technique just to experiment, but I haven't used it as a primary tactic for battles. It may also be because I'm used to the old, clunky gameplay of NES and early SNES titles. I grew up having my dreams of easy conquest shattered by the first Final Fantasy game (still have never beaten the cartridge version, only the remakes that "fixed" the attack redirect issue). My advise is almost always the same for old games like this... GRIND! If you're sufficiently leveled, you can take down almost anything without glitches or exploits but you'll be sacrificing (or in my case, enjoying) hours of your life too.

@ludist210

I used it all up on the trip in. Those tomato thingies are a pain, but freeze magic seemed to do the trick.

Maybe I should grab some MP restore items.

@Shadowlink

You have to charge a shot to even hurt the tomatoes. At least that's the only way I could hurt them without magic. Tell your AI to attack once they have a charged attack ready. That helps.

Week 2 compreeeeto! Took a break from work to finish this morning. Had to kill the Great Viper without attack magic. What a bloody chore! And no Midge Mallet for free Pygmy cures. Forgot to go back and get it after I read your post, Mustache. Ugh. Thankfully my girl had full MP when I walked into the battle. She saved my ass!

@Shadowlink
The tomato guys keep dropping zombies (up to 10 or 12 max) and are a great way to level up a little. If you stay in the middle of the first room, you're relatively safe. Get cornered by the zombies and you're toast though. A charged attack will usually kill a tomato with one hit. They have low HP but really high evade. And if you hang in the first room, he doesnt seem to attack much or cast at you. Just keeps poopin' out zombies to grind on.

@Jew Drop

Good to know. Both are relatively cheap and I'm assuming FFA or SoM will come out on the Virtual Console at some point, so I'll likely get it.

Where is the Midge Mallet? I found the Magic Rope by accident...but what a great accidental find.

I'm very much a mage-player in RPGs, I just love the way that magic is portrayed differently in various RPGs.
Playing Secret of Mana, mage-ing is basically a math game. Try to get as close to 999 in as few MP as possible, without going over.
Of course, once you get the inevitable MP-stealing spell (a much needed staple of magic-based games back then) you can throw math out the window and just cast that. Unless their element/monster-type (gasp) REVERSES it!

Some good progress tonight. Killed some bosses. Got some Orbs. Made it to upper land.

Time for sleep.

WEEK 3 - THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE EMPIRE

Week 2 gave us some more magic to work with, onto a jampacked Week 3!:

-The Cannon Travel Center outside of Matango should have some fuses. Off we go to Kakkara! (SI#1 for help)
-Escape this wild predicament, and head north to your prefered destination.
-"Someone" is missing, off to look elsewhere. Take the Cannon to Ice Country (SI#2).
-After the Tropics and a new friend in hand, head north to the Ice Palace. Take the right fork first.
-After rescuing a familiar face, take the Cannon Travel southeast of that special house back to Kakkara (SI#3).
-Seal your 4th Seed and move onto Southtown. Someone here is a friend.. (SI#4)
-Trouble is afoot for our friend Phanna again. Help her out in the Ruins! (Don't miss a Sword Orb in here.)
-The plot thickens, and we move to the Castle. Speak to Krissie and the Emperor.
-The final fight of the week takes place on a grand stage with the cards stacked. How ever will our heroes hang on?

And that's it! Big week, but an EXCITING week. You'll see what I mean when its all over..


Special Instructions #1:
You'll plop in the middle of the desert. Head north, west, north, east, and you should come upon a Sandship. Speak to Sergo TWICE.

Special Instructions #2:
Near Todo, don't miss the Spear's Orb in a house in the forest. Its a..special house.

Special Instructions #3:
From Kakkarak: south, west, north to the Fire Palace. Cast Exploder on the 1st Orb, Fireball on the 2nd, Freeze on the 3rd.

Special Instructions #4:
Speak to Mara in the NW corner. The Code is '634' for the Sewer area.


Not sure if you can just end there, or if you have to do one more thing here. If you have to do one more thing, feel free to, but don't go too crazy. Stay close and grind somewhere familiar.

Hmm. It seems I'm right near the end of Week 2. I just cast Air thingy on that Crystal to get into the forest section to the left of the Sprite Village. Spent some time wandering around there, found a broken cannon and a cave that led nowhere. Leveled up a bunch of stuff though.

Stephen wants to play Reach now so back to the Wind palace to recover and save.

*facepalm*

Found my way through the cave. I needed the axe. Doh.

I didn't say that. I said I just got through the cave.

Killed the snakey thing just now. NOW I'm done with 2.

EDIT: And now I killed the bikie jerk and am in a town. Bed time.

I'm doing everything out of order this time. Went to the second place first did half the stuff there, then went to Gaia for the Midge Mallet, then finally the first location for this week. I'm done there so I'll now go back and finish bullet four.