* * * * * 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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Dark Weres said:

Perhaps a bit late to be saying, but this is a relatively item-heavy game. Use your monomates, antidotes, and always have a telepipe and escapipe on you unless you're in the habit of retreating once your techs/skills reach about half.

Honestly, I haven't used a single healing item. I've used one or two antidotes/paral-cures, and usually use HINAS/RYUKA instead of the telepipes/escapipes. I always keep a few of each item on hand, but I really haven't used many.

Finished this week's goals. I'm assuming you never have more than five people in your party at a time, because they keep leaving...at least that means I won't have to juggle guys around for exp.

Also, consider equipping Rune with two shields and putting him at the front of your order. His attack is weak and his magic gets only a weak boost from the staffs available so far. But with two shields, he can soak up plenty of physical damage and has great magic defense, too. Unfortunately, enemies seem to be targeting other party members more often than they used to, but he'll still sponge plenty of damage in the long run.

@Mr_Mustache No, it's just before that town, in fact. To the north, I believe.

@nate38 I have also not been using restoration items, they take up valuable inventory space! I either use them when I get them or sell them. I keep a Cure-Paral because Chaz can't cast the cure-para tech when he's paralyzed, but that's about it.

Speaking of inventory, this game has one of the worst interfaces for buying and selling items I've ever seen! No way to compare items, and selling stuff is just a mountain of menus. "HIT RIGHT 400 TIMES" and it never automatically sorts (or that I can see, gives you an option to sort) the inventory, so you'll have a stray weapon sandwiched between 300 monomates, UGH.

@Mop it up

I may've completely missed it. Odd.

@Xbob42

Gosh, I wish it sorted.. I started selling Antidotes simply because they were cloggin' up Page 1.

And for general onlookers, there are only 5 pages, and upwards of 40 items. 400/300, pfffft. C'mon, XBOB!

Yeah, the menus are very similar to earlier Dragon Quest games, which is not a good thing. But then the battle system is also similar, outside of the macro stuff, so clearly the game has taken a lot of inspiration from Dragon Quest.

@Mr_Mustache

I finished week 2. And week 3!

@Koovaps You cheater!

Oh, I guess I should state for the record that I finished week 2.

@Mop it up

I know, but only because I'm doing my best to keep these weeks to a decent length.

edit - I will have week 3 content up soonish. Apologies for the delay.

Week Three
GOALS

- Up, up, and away! Fly in the rocket ship and meet your brand new party member. Try to make your way to Kuran.

- Brrr! Explore the chilly planet of Dezolis. Find a way to actually get to Kuran and deal with any problems there. Be prepared!

- Weren't we just here? Explore more of Dezolis. You'll find several new towns. Events will eventually lead you to Esper Mansion, where an important character awaits. Cue history lesson.

- I need that! Get your hands on the important item you're looking for. Things may get difficult trying to get this item. Be prepared!

Optional Content

- Find Myst Vale. Very cool for fans of the series.

- Find and go through the Weapons Plant. One of your characters will be glad you did.


This week is an interesting one. I think there's at least 4 solid hours of content here, especially with the optional stuff, but if you're well leveled you should be able to fly through the necessary content, especially if you don't waste too much time in the towns. (There is also a Climate Control Center that can be gone through, but I really don't know if it's actually necessary to move on.) So make of this week what you will. As for the rest of the game, I'm not sure how much content is actually left, but it certainly seems possible to me that it might only take 2 more weeks to finish, but don't quote me on that. We shall see. That said, enjoy!

@Koovaps

Yeahhh, Koovaps!

I still gotta go look for Monsen?, before advancing. Can someone else (besides Mop) confirm?

Also, the Guild Quests: are we able to do them AFTER we take the rocket? Can we just come right back? I'll TRY to get those four Week 2 Quests done before I advance.

@Mr_Mustache

The only real reason to go to Monsen is because it leads to the Plate System. If you already did that, I don't think there's any reason to go back there before proceeding. And I do believe you can do the Guild Quests whenever. You can eventually return to Motavia. The Quests unlock after certain events. One of them actually involves Monsen.

Anyone know if the shadwblade is worth keeping? I got two of them off enemy drops. Its stats are not as good as the weapon I currently have and it doesn't seem to do anything when used as an item in battle.

@Mr_Mustache

I can confirm. That was the first place I found him. When I went up to him he just ran away. This happened again in Termi. Haven't come across him again. The woman at his house said he likes sweet things and I do have a shortcake now. I didn't have one the previous two times I ran into him.

@Jew Drop Yeah Shadowblade doesn't seem worth keeping. I looked it up, and its whole deal is it sometimes triggers an instant death spell when you attack with it. But statistically it's weaker than the sword I had when I picked it up, and it decreases your other stats, too. Unfortunately it's only worth 1 meseta, so you might as well just drop it.

@Koovaps
@Jew Drop

What the heck, how did I miss it? I don't think I did any Plate System stuff either. (Or was that the place with the energy barricade over it? I can't remember the wording they used. I couldn't advance, obviously.)

In any event, I probably missed some weapons or something, haha. Poops. So, to find it, I just go North of Termi?

Shadowblade: I got one, got excited..and then got disappointed.

@Mr_Mustache

From Termi, go north past the quicksand, then straight west. You should run into Plate System. Monsen is south and west of there, just a bit north of more quicksand.

@Koovaps

Thanks buddy. I musta cruised right by it.

Cleared out my afternoon and steamrolled through all of the week's goals. After Zio's Fort and the Ladea Tower, everything's been pretty manageable, though I don't see how I'll ever afford some of this equipment. Liking the new party members, though.

@nate38

I thought that I had a huge stash of dough until I came across some of the more expensive stuff. Yowza! I got some of it and came back later for the rest. I have again built up a nice pile of dough, though. And there is thankfully a bunch of great stuff to find.

I finished week 2.

@VickiL

Hooray, Vicki! On to Week 3. Hope you're enjoying all the Sega goodness!