* * * * * 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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Looks like we're (hopefully) finishing up tomorrow afternoon during NASCAR.

Two birds with one stone for Nikki, it seems.

What level are people at when finishing up Mana?

I have to fight Dark Lich and haven't leveled up my Lumina magic at all. Can I beat him using anything else? I'm hoping to squash the game tonight if possible. I think I'm around level 55?

@PogueSquadron
I haven't beaten it yet, but I think I'll take some time to level up my Lumina before heading to the last place, now.

@VickiL

Level up your Dryad too.

I am done. That last boss took forever, and that was with me frame skipping through all the waiting.

First off, you have to know that you need Dryad to be somewhat decent to give you time. Second, you have one shot to get a good attack off, and even then, you might not get it, because the Mana Beast might Lucent Beam you a few times.

This game is really charming, but it is way more unpolished than I remember. The hit detection is pretty annoying throughout the game. The regular enemies give you way more trouble than bosses do. The final area is a huge pain in the A, because if you want to get OUT of it, you have to walk all the way back to the entrance and can't use the Rope. If you're not using a guide or haven't leveled enough, you could lose tons of time making your way through the final area. All in all it just feels kind of rough around the edges at every spot except the music - and even that cuts out because the sound effects are happening all the time.

Like I said, it's a very charming game but it's pretty wonky. I'd give it...a 7 out of 10.

Done! Way to go!

I was about level 59 I think, which is probably a good thing given that Dryad was at 0 all around. As Shadowlink was posting his very helpful advice, I was probably in the middle of the battle with Buffy. Even with a weak Dryad, the Mana Beast wasn't much of a problem for me. I cast Magic Water during the down time, then the mana sword magics as simultaneously as possible as it was floating into range. I could get a couple of non-charged hits off, sometimes quite a few if it didn't do Lucent Beam. Certainly took me more than three rounds, but I did alright.

My catching up stalled again. Hopefully I will do more in the next week.

Also, the "reveals" at the end of the game....Sheeeeeeesh. Sometimes this game feels like a parody of other games, haha. It's a shame we can't play the next game in the series. Thanks Square.

@PogueSquadron
@VickiL

Hey, congratulations! (Now, whats next?!)

@Mr_Mustache

I'd be able to play Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, or Phantasy Star II. Those are the only ones I have. Sadly, still no money to get new games. My xbox live gold membership expired this week too. So no more online gaming for Jew. Booooo.

Almost done with Mana. Hopefully, I'll have a little time after work later tonight to finish.

In the Mana Fortress now. Got a free Spear Orb a little while ago. Daedelus Lance is OURS!

Will finish tonight (hopefully...thats the plan..).

@Jew Drop

Oh, did you WANT to play one of those games? Not sure what we're doing just yet.

I might have to pass. I'm probably starting up Fire Emblem Awakening after I beat Assassin's Creed 2. Unless you play a stupidly short game haha.

@PogueSquadron

There's a thought. We could play Fire Emblem Awakening for the next game. Half of us are going to be playing it anyway....

Delayed to tonight.

@Shadowlink

Are you like, wicked LTTP, but not enough so it is fashionable? Pretty sure a massive chunk of the board is already playing / played that thing out.

--How many Shining Force bites did we have?

@Mr_Mustache

It only released here this week unfortunately.

But there's still a few people here who haven't played it! Exhibit A @PogueSquadron

I'll play anything retro, and I feel free to ignore this thread for weeks if I'm not into the next game. If you don't want to be a dictator, I guess you could do a poll. I, personally, don't have a problem with you deciding unilaterally.

@VickiL

Thanks, Vicki! Nice to know who I can trust in situations like this..

Anyway, Zero has mentioned to me Shining Force II a few times. Sounds like he wants to do that, and I know someone else mentioned it (Vicki? Mop?) as a game that they really wanted to play [again]. I'm not opposed to that in any way shape or form, though I know NOTHING about it so someone else will have to call the shots on it.

If it were 100% up to me, we'd be gathering all of the stragglers who hadn't finished/started Last Story yet. I'm cool with Shining Force though.


EDIT- Poll Up

Should be finishing up Secret of Mana on Friday Night. SHOULD BE..

Anything new from Jew Drop or DW/Cube/Fink?

----------
Looks like Phantasy Star IV will be next. Should be fun! And if we've got no Dungeon Master, and nobody wants to look stuff up, I guess we'll be wandering aimlessly for X Weeks. That..could be pretty neat.

If you've been in the MH thread at all, you'd see that I REFUSE to look anything up on the computer. It gives me..a great feeling of..man, I'm at a loss for words. Like, comradery between us, "Hunter Stories" of something of the sort. I suppose (if we're all Green) we'd have something similar here, but we'd need a PACT that nobody would look stuff up. But people would/probably would.

Can you imagine us playing and using Maps that one of us designed and scanned in? How freakin' neat would that be?

Secret of Mana: Alrighty! Nikki and I put this game away this afternoon, Mana Fortress took us a bit over an hour. Man, they brought out the awesome music for the end of the game, boy. I love the music through the rest of the game, and I liked a lot of it more than the end of the game stuff, but the credits were awesome, the final fight was awesome, the Dark Lich is still scary as S, and so on. Just cool beans galore.

She enjoyed the game more than she let on, I think, and every week I caught her tapping a finger or a foot to the tune. Now it nests, and she'll need it again in a few years. Nostalgia, baby. But she's done with Epic Center for a while. I'm going it alone now.


...


And now we're set for Phantasy Star IV! "OP" has been updated with a new "User Friendly" design, with the absolute newest week to be at the tippy top for quick transit. I'm in, I know some others are in, but here we go.

Koovaps to DM. What a guy.

Sign me up.