Chrono Compendium
Marbule Gallery - Completed Fan Creations => Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile => Topic started by: ZeaLitY on January 04, 2007, 03:54:31 am
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Here is mine.
Prophet's Guile
- We see Magus at the confrontation with Crono in his lair. The scene plays out.
- Magus wakes up upon the snow of 12000 B.C. and sees something in the distance. Due to the extreme cold, he wears his hood.
- Upon entering a land bridge, he is aghast with surprise. He mentions possibly finding Lavos.
- The player can visit Enhasa first; the land bridge to Kajar is packed with people, and he worries about being seen.
- In Enhasa, he must talk to three people who all reveal clues about the date. Upon the third (activated by bitmath), he deduces that the Mammon Machine is close to activation. Gaspar appears with Janus and a Lasher; Gaspar remarks that there may be talent in the boy, but to leave him alone. Janus is sullen and exits with the other two; Magus decides to try and gain access to the Ocean Palace upon remembering the incident.
- At Zeal Palace, Magus gains audience with Queen Zeal, donning the Prophet guise and foretelling a violent storm. As the Queen laughs at his "prediction" of yesterday's events, Magus realizes his estimate was off. With a correct perspective this time, he forecasts the birth of an Earthbound child.
- Queen Zeal couldn't care less, but Magus makes a save by revealing Belthasar's secret rooms. As the scene switches to Kajar, the Queen and Dalton are amazed to find it. The Queen orders it locked, to be reviewed for treachery. As the Queen prepares to buy into Magus's pitch, the visibly bitter Dalton suggests that he be sent on an errand to prove his power. Magus pointedly objects, calling the idea ridiculous, but the Queen thinks it would be interesting to see a soothsayer fight. She reveals that a beast near a land bridge has run wild, attacking a Zeal man the previous day. Magus reluctantly travels down to fight it.
- Belthasar is in the land bridge; Magus walks by him. Wondering who that was, Belthasar enters and is teleported to Zeal.
- Magus fights a few battles and kills the beast in a snowy place.
- We see Crono, Marle, and Frog taken to the Ioka tent; after which, Ayla is told of Laruba's burning.
- Back in Zeal Palace, Magus reveals the hide of the creature. Zeal and her attendants express amazement, and Zeal reveals that in the hours Magus was away, a child was born, and that for "some idiotic reason", Schala traveled down to see it. Zeal remarks that she'd better not lose that pendant.
- Magus inquires of the Ocean Palace. Zeal asks if he knows about its future, and Magus remarks after hesitating that Zeal will know immortality. He then warns her that interlopers may arrive, and gives their descriptions. He then warns that the Gurus may attempt to stop the Ocean Palace project. Queen Zeal is outraged at the prospect and vows that at the slightest objection, they will be dealt with.
- Magus retires to his quarters, meanwhile finding Janus in the hallway. Janus asks who he is. After two attempts, Magus commands him to feed Alfador and exits, leaving Janus bewildered.
- A dream sequence ensues. He remembers telling Ozzie that Lavos will annihilate humans, then recalls Janus walking down the Ocean Palace's corridors and telling Schala of his great fear.
- The next morning, Magus can walk around as he pleases. He finds Zeal violently arguing with Melchior, who had come in to express worry over the Mammon Machine.
- Queen Zeal commands the Prophet to escort Melchior to Mt. Woe and imprison him. Melchior attempts a spell on the Prophet, but Magus easily overpowers it, leaving Melchior amazed.
- They take a Skygate in the Queen's chamber to the sheer cliffs on the back side of the mountain. Magus must help Melchior navigate the harsh trail upwards. Somehow, it's coded so that Melchior can't take a number of hits or the quest must be restarted.
- At the peak, Melchior asks Magus if he knows why he has complied so easily. As Magus begins one of his typical responses, Melchior produces the Red Knife. A scripted battle takes place; Magus senses the Masamune. Melchior is injured, but Magus knocks him out, heals him, and seals him in the crystal with Ozzie's technique.
- Magus finds Schala at the base of the mountain. She asks him if he has truly placed Melchior atop the mountain, noting that "imprisonment" really means death at the hands of Giga Gaia. Magus notes that he is safe. Schala draws near, but Magus pulls back, walking past her to the Skygate.
- Cut to Crono, Frog, and Ayla asking about Dactyls.
- Cut to Magus walking down a lengthy hall, and a couple flashbacks of the Gurus helping Janus.
- In Zeal Palace near the entrance, a guard tells him that the Queen has no use of him for the remainder of the day, as she is busy with the Mammon Machine.
- Magus is free to walk around Zeal. He eventually reaches Enhasa, stepping out onto a balcony. As he reflects, four Nu emerge from hiding. "The master wishes to know more about you."
- Magus defeats the Nu, and interrogates one. The Nu reveals that Belthasar fled that morning with Gaspar upon hearing what happened to Melchior, and that they took their equipment with them.
- Magus decides that he must scope out the Ocean Palace and prepare, and that he should find Zeal in the Hall of the Machine.
- Cut to Queen Zeal in the Hall, suggesting to Dalton that Magus take his position. Dalton is unhappy, but Zeal is taking delight in the entire affair.
- Magus is free again. The player enters the hall, where Dalton confronts Magus and tells him the news. He then orders him to clean up down there, as contamination has allowed a few ghastly sea creatures to infiltrate the compound.
- Once Magus enters the Skygate, the scene shows Crono, Frog, and Ayla confronting Azala.
- At the Ocean Palace, Magus speaks with workers, including Earthbound ones. He learns that there was a breach.
- In the breached room, there are no monsters. Dalton enters with a Golem. However, Dalton reveals that he'd rather kill the Prophet himself, and attribute it to the breach.
- After the final battle, Magus wounds Dalton, injuring his eye. This explains the eye patch. Dalton threatens him further, but Magus notes that killing him would only incur suspicion. Magus lets him pathetically live.
- The scene goes to black and resumes in Enhasa.
- As Magus concludes discussion with a worker, Crono, Marle, and Lucca arrive.
- Alarmed, Magus retreats after they enter Enhasa, and sneaks to the door. As Janus walks to meet the heroes, the screen fades to black as the Zeal theme plays.
- ASCII text: "And the rest...is history."
Issues with this idea:
-Magus has to be resprited to have the cloak
-New tileset
Proposals with this idea:
-Status screen / textbox color changed to suit Magus
-Nice status screen portrait for him
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Good, bad, can anyone see it?
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So, it will be what Magus did while Chrono and Co. were fighting in Tyrano Lair?
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Yes.
I went ahead and created a title screen, though I have yet to script the events. It's attached. Janus, Queen Zeal, Schala, and finally Magus will staff the tiers from bottom to top; the screen will fade to black and then illuminate for Magus's appearance, at which point the textbox will come up. All that clear space will appear black in-game.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Would any of this result in a black screen? My location isn't loading. I'm using variant E0 to change location from the title screen. I've never successfully changed the title screen to a new scene before (jsondag2 did that with Crimson Echoes) so this is a first.
Object 00
[0101] Startup / Idle
B80851F7 [0101] StringIndex(F75108)
00 [0105] Return
B2 [0106] End
[0107] Activate
00 [0107] Return
[0107] Touch
[0107] Arbitrary0
[0107] Arbitrary1
[0107] Arbitrary2
[0107] Arbitrary3
[0107] Arbitrary4
[0107] Arbitrary5
[0107] Arbitrary6
[0107] Arbitrary7
[0107] Arbitrary8
[0107] Arbitrary9
[0107] ArbitraryA
[0107] ArbitraryB
[0107] ArbitraryC
Object 01
[0108] Startup / Idle
57 [0108] LoadPC Crono
00 [0109] Return
B0 [010A] Controllable(Infinite)
[010B] Activate
00 [010B] Return
[010B] Touch
[010B] Arbitrary0
[010B] Arbitrary1
[010B] Arbitrary2
[010B] Arbitrary3
[010B] Arbitrary4
[010B] Arbitrary5
[010B] Arbitrary6
[010B] Arbitrary7
[010B] Arbitrary8
[010B] Arbitrary9
[010B] ArbitraryA
[010B] ArbitraryB
[010B] ArbitraryC
Object 02
[010C] Startup / Idle
5C [010C] LoadPC Marle
00 [010D] Return
B0 [010E] Controllable(Infinite)
[010F] Activate
00 [010F] Return
[010F] Touch
[010F] Arbitrary0
[010F] Arbitrary1
[010F] Arbitrary2
[010F] Arbitrary3
[010F] Arbitrary4
[010F] Arbitrary5
[010F] Arbitrary6
[010F] Arbitrary7
[010F] Arbitrary8
[010F] Arbitrary9
[010F] ArbitraryA
[010F] ArbitraryB
[010F] ArbitraryC
Object 03
[0110] Startup / Idle
62 [0110] LoadPC Lucca
00 [0111] Return
B0 [0112] Controllable(Infinite)
[0113] Activate
00 [0113] Return
[0113] Touch
[0113] Arbitrary0
[0113] Arbitrary1
[0113] Arbitrary2
[0113] Arbitrary3
[0113] Arbitrary4
[0113] Arbitrary5
[0113] Arbitrary6
[0113] Arbitrary7
[0113] Arbitrary8
[0113] Arbitrary9
[0113] ArbitraryA
[0113] ArbitraryB
[0113] ArbitraryC
Object 04
[0114] Startup / Idle
6A [0114] LoadPC Robo
00 [0115] Return
B0 [0116] Controllable(Infinite)
[0117] Activate
00 [0117] Return
[0117] Touch
[0117] Arbitrary0
[0117] Arbitrary1
[0117] Arbitrary2
[0117] Arbitrary3
[0117] Arbitrary4
[0117] Arbitrary5
[0117] Arbitrary6
[0117] Arbitrary7
[0117] Arbitrary8
[0117] Arbitrary9
[0117] ArbitraryA
[0117] ArbitraryB
[0117] ArbitraryC
Object 05
[0118] Startup / Idle
68 [0118] LoadPC Frog
00 [0119] Return
B0 [011A] Controllable(Infinite)
[011B] Activate
00 [011B] Return
[011B] Touch
[011B] Arbitrary0
[011B] Arbitrary1
[011B] Arbitrary2
[011B] Arbitrary3
[011B] Arbitrary4
[011B] Arbitrary5
[011B] Arbitrary6
[011B] Arbitrary7
[011B] Arbitrary8
[011B] Arbitrary9
[011B] ArbitraryA
[011B] ArbitraryB
[011B] ArbitraryC
Object 06
[011C] Startup / Idle
6C [011C] LoadPC Ayla
00 [011D] Return
B0 [011E] Controllable(Infinite)
[011F] Activate
00 [011F] Return
[011F] Touch
[011F] Arbitrary0
[011F] Arbitrary1
[011F] Arbitrary2
[011F] Arbitrary3
[011F] Arbitrary4
[011F] Arbitrary5
[011F] Arbitrary6
[011F] Arbitrary7
[011F] Arbitrary8
[011F] Arbitrary9
[011F] ArbitraryA
[011F] ArbitraryB
[011F] ArbitraryC
Object 07
[0120] Startup / Idle
6D [0120] LoadPC Magus
00 [0121] Return
B0 [0122] Controllable(Infinite)
[0123] Activate
00 [0123] Return
[0123] Touch
[0123] Arbitrary0
[0123] Arbitrary1
[0123] Arbitrary2
[0123] Arbitrary3
[0123] Arbitrary4
[0123] Arbitrary5
[0123] Arbitrary6
[0123] Arbitrary7
[0123] Arbitrary8
[0123] Arbitrary9
[0123] ArbitraryA
[0123] ArbitraryB
[0123] ArbitraryC
Edit: Oh, no wonder. The event packet corrupted after I saved the Title Screen. What is it I do that corrupts things? Windows 98SE?
...
I'll import the map to a new ROM.
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Development halted until I ask if Windows 98SE is an issue.
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The story is interesting, it's not over the top and everything makes sense. The only "missing" thing in the action would be the Blackbird, but if it's not required, no need to force it in (after all why did Belthasar even bother making an airplane when there's Skyways everywhere?).
What tileset is needed besides the balcony? I can't see any. For the balcony, the "Zenan Bridge" bridge tiles could be replaced with a bit of "Zealian city" tiles, and the sky behind can be simply kept.
The respriting is the big issue though. Fact: +200 frames to edit.
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This seems interesting. I like the story.
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Edit: Oh, no wonder. The event packet corrupted after I saved the Title Screen. What is it I do that corrupts things? Windows 98SE?
...
I'll import the map to a new ROM.
make sure the event code is not in a bad event.
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I guess I'll try again. When something corrupts, it's like a massive blow to my morale...
I'm starting to really think it's something on my end. I did have several programs running (and will, since I'm acquiring lossless Chrono audio on DC++ and uTorrent among other things), so maybe that contributed. At any rate, I could always Rock Lee the maps while someone sets up the basic skeleton in the events. I could perhaps do the events in the places that need to be mapped, since they'll be original dungeons with events separate from the main storyline (I expect Zeal Palace to get complicated). I'm also inexperienced at coordinating a playthrough from the beginning.
I don't want to seem like I'm copping out, though, so I'll say that when my areas are finished up, I'll resume work on something else. My nose is going to the grindstone on this one. I want it out. I'm just going to do some relatively safe stuff and avoid making lots of event edits, since I seem to have a problem with that.
So, if Vehek, Chrono'99, Zakyrus...or anyone else for that matter (I'd rather not rattle off 30 names here) wants to help guide the events through the first few stages, it'd be tremendously helpful. I will begin work on the Mt. Woe map. I'm attaching the map for location 119, the title screen map I chose. If someone volunteers, try to get it working like the CE Demo 2. Place Janus, Queen Zeal, Schala, and Magus on the little platforms in order from lowest to highest on the title screen map. And of course, make sure it's using palette 46 and tilesets 32/11 for Zeal.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Alright, I've done the introduction, it involved a lot of trial and errors because of all those weird loops between {000} and the normal title screen plus our custom title screen. Now it works fine (could still have some polishing, later) and it leads to the Magus Castle Inner Sanctum accordingly to the plot.
I'll try to code the next parts... Let's actually finish this hack or else CE will become like the Dead Sea :|
[attachment deleted by admin]
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I really feel like apologizing lately for the big "okay, let's get stuff done" thing and then being restricted. But as a lot of you know, my most magnificent enterprise is underway.
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It's alright, progress is going quickly: I coded the plot up to when Magus arrives at Kajar after the Janus/Gaspar/Lasher cutscene. Polishing will have to be done later since I absolutely have no imagination for the dialogues and I just put placeholder, narrating texts from the first post of this topic to fill the boxes. I've put the Janus cutscene on a new map (Enhasa's exterior entrance, made with the Land Bridge tileset) because there were palette problems in the interior.
...There's still some bugs also, I'll post them later. Have to go.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Amazing. I'm moved! I'm begun to think of pacing. Can you think of anything we can interject in the beginning to make it a little slower? I was thinking of a little credits screen showing Magus at different stages of his life (like four or five total) with some new music, perhaps from Radical Dreamers. But I don't want to add any more work at the moment, so we won't worry about this until the polishing process.
Ah, what am I talking about. I need to find time to update the site and work on PG again...
But the exterior was unexpected! I'm going to have a tough time handling Magus's "whoa, I'm in Zeal" dialogue at the beginning so that it's not too dramatic. But I mean, you'd expect Magus to be really, honestly surprised, so...
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New patch. In this one, Magus speaks to Queen Zeal, goes to kill a beast in a snowy place, returns to Zeal and gains access to his quarters. I actually skipped the snowy place and his quarters since there's no maps for them... there's just a textbox and the next scenes ensue (no battles yet). So the end of this patch is where Magus sleeps and has flashbacks of Ozzie and Janus and Schala in the Ocean Palace (there's some nice color filter effects in these 2 short flashback scenes).
So... anyone wants to map the snowy place, and is the Magus quarters palette ready?
In any case, I'm going to keep on coding the backbones of the next parts, because I'll get more busy with school in one or two weeks (I'm in a lull currently) so I'm trying to code as much as I can until then.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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I'll try it out, any ideas on how it should look?
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Dunno, just make the snowy place not too similar to the Crimson Echoes Beast Forest, although 3 screens sounds long enough since it's the first mini-dungeon.
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Are we planning on changing his Character Portrait? We do have the Prophet picture the we could use.
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Yes, I'd like to change the character portrait.
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New patch with the Zeal Dark Wing area and Vehek's palette, with Zeality's part of the Beast's Nest (not accessible ingame yet), and nightmare975's Mt Woe first map (not accessible ingame yet). Nothing new plotwise but it's just to post the latest version of the rom.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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I'll try to get some things going starting Friday (no time tonight or Thursday, aside from planning the JQC). I'll go ahead and export a location's events every time I get done as a backup. Time to start writing dialogue!
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Zeality memorandum: Different red rock
blue robe palace
Scene whines / minor updates / dialogue
To avoid a bunch of importing, I'll post dialogue here for places already scripted.
{119} - New Title Screen
- String to
Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile{full break}
By Kajar Laboratories, 2007
Press A to begin{null} - Overall music to Zeal Palace; once full development is done we can worry about music in other areas
{15F} - Dark Ages Portal
- {Magus}: ...{delay 03}{full break}
The...Magic Cave?{delay 02}{line break}
Have I fallen?
{0F4} - Dark Ages Portal Exterior
- {Magus}: Snow fields...{delay 03}{line break}
A world of ice?{null}
{182} - Algetty Entrance (if he enters, let's have him turn and leave)
- {Magus}: This...this place!?{line break}
I must...!{null}
{161} - Land Bridge leading back to Portal (if this is the first he enters)
- {Magus}: These walls...{line break}
If I step here, I...{delay 02}{null}
{151} - Skyway leading to Enhasa
- {Magus}: This...this is impossible!{line break}
It's flying!{line break}
Have I made it back...?{delay 03}{line break}
The Gate has deposited me here?{full break}
...{delay 02}{line break}
Zeal is in one piece.{line break}
...Will Schala be alive?{line break}
...Of course, Lavos! Lavos will...{full break}
My God...{delay 03}{line break}
I have a chance to stop it.{line break}
I can exact vengeance at the source...{null} - Magus walks forward a little.
- {Magus}: ...Zeal. I cannot believe...{null}
{164} - Skyway leading to Kajar
- {Magus}: Hmm...{delay 03}{line break}
I would cause much alarm here.{line break}
Perhaps I should appraise things back{line break}
in the city of dreams...{null}
~
I'm at Enhasa now. I will rearrange all the NPCs across the map, make new preliminary dialogue, and export the entire thing.
Edit: Okay, here are Enhasa's lines as a back up in case the event export is corrupted. Enhasa's events and a checksum .sfv file are attached. Just install QuickSFV to verify your download is uncorrupted.
Welcome to Enhasa, where dreams...{delay 02}
My, you have quite an aura there.
I'm curious of your origins...
Ah, I apologize.{full break}
Enjoy this splendid city of dreams,
traveler!{null}
Everything forged in fealty to fire,
water, light, and shadow has been
relocated to the North Palace.{full break}
The stewards of Zeal are preparing
for a full switch to the boundless
power of the slumbering immortal,
Lavos.{full break}
The Gurus have likened it to burning
bridges behind oneself...how
unfortunate!{null}
{Magus}: The elemental tools are{line break}
already sealed, and the promise of{line break}
eternal life rampant...{full break}
The Mammon Machine's activation{line break}
at the sage's underwater palace must{line break}
be only days away.{null}
The door to the north palace is sealed
with a mysterious energy.
Even we, the Enlightened Ones, cannot
open it.{null}
Welcome, what can I do for you?{null}
Belthasar is unrivaled in genius.
His works in service of Zeal have
added to its luster a thousand-fold.{full break}
I wonder, however...if one day the
Guru of Reason will create machinations
for his own ends exceeding the grandeur
of the Blackbird and Ocean Palace.{null}
Our magnificent King, removed from
this world in a single flash...{full break}
It is troublesome to accept, but
thankfully, the Queen is selflessly
working to restore...{delay 02}
No, to surpass his glory.{null}
My, your aura...!
It's overpowering!
As if you're the child of a nightmare,
or a wrath unleashed in pursuit of...{full break}
Some awful fortune...{delay 02}
Shadow users confound me. And for
one with such power to appear here...
Is it an omen?{null}
Ah, Vera speaks of fated dreams...
But I choose to imagine lucidly
in my sleep, and make my own
vespertine enterprisesas I please.{full break}
Even in this late age, philosophies
of Enhasa vary. Perhaps because
we're all too busy enjoying what
the veil of closed eyes offers...{null}
Not since the raising of our islands,
centuries ago, have such advancements
been made in such a short period.{full break}
Imagine, immortality realized through
the lifeblood of the seabed's lord.{full break}
Artists, and creators, shall never die,
but will exalt Zeal in eternal glory.
You, too, should gaze into the glowing
red rock of the machine...{null}
Traveler, have you ever experienced
a dream of such detail and depth
that you spend each waking hour
considering its ethereal meaning?{full break}
I have found this truth. The visions
we experience and create are the seeds
of action...{delay 02}
Do you, too, have a burning dream?{null}
He's been like that for days,
asking about fate, and wondering if
we're all on some collision course
or something.{full break}
I wish he'd just go to Kajar and
figure it out already.{delay 02}
Bah, interruptions...
...Zzz...zzz...{null}
Visitor, do you believe...{delay 03}{full break}
Wow, check out that get-up! Let
me guess...you believe in Fate!
You put off a bad vibe, like Janus...
So, are our lives predetermined?!{null}
{Magus}: ...{line break}
Perhaps you should ask me in a few{line break
days' time.{null}
The Nocturne Festival is coming up.
Zeal's orbit will be affixed to stay
in the realm of night for two weeks...{full break}
By then, eternal life will be reality,
and we can revel in starry delight.{null}
Majestic dreams of centuries past
are recorded in Enhasa's volumes.{full break}
It is enlightening to read of our
ancestors' dreaming of the day Zeal
would take to the skies forever...{null}
Poor Janus...he loved his father.
Perhaps Schala can console him.
He walks our golden corridors to
dwell on dark and troubling thoughts...{null}
~
{152} - Enhasa Exterior (for the Janus/Gaspar/Lasher cutscene)
GASPAR: ...No, you are correct.{line break}
There is indeed something holding{line break}
Janus back. With a lineage such as his,{line break}
he should have remarkable ability...{null}
LASHER: That's troubling. I've tried{line break}
exercises, drills, the works.{delay 03}{line break}
Everything but coming at him with the{line break}
intent to really inflict pain...{full break}
But I can't do that. Not to a royal.{null}
GASPAR: Yes, it'd be beyond your{line break}
authority. {delay 02} Do not worry too much.{line break}
Before the Sun Stone was sealed up, we{line break}
did confirm that he can receive energy.{full break}
He's probably a slow learner.{line break}
In this situation, we need...{delay 03}{line break}
Less haste, and more speed. Be patient,{line break}
and work with him diligently.{full break}
It will come. I've sensed his potential.{line break}
Be ready when he finally unleashes it!{null}
LASHER: ...Thanks, wise one.{line break}
I will continue to work with Janus.{null}
(He takes a step forward, then faces Gaspar again)
LASHER: Wise one, should we take him{line break}
to the Ocean Palace when it is ready?{line break}
The activation of the Mammon Machine{line break}
might coax a little talent out of him.{null}
GASPAR: Hm...{delay 02}{line break}
Such a precipitous event...{full break}
No, let us leave him here.{line break}
I have my doubts about the Ocean Palace...{line break}
Even Belthasar has expressed worry.{line break}
Best to keep him safe at the palace.{null}
LASHER: Understood.{line break}
Thank you for your audience.{line break}
{delay 03}Janus!! I'll take you to your room.{null}
(They leave)
{Magus}: Heh, I went anyway.{line break}
I'd better devise a way to attend the{line break}
christening of the Mammon Machine...{full break}
Schala's presence is inevitable, and the{line break}
old men may get in the way...{delay 02}{line break}
They must be removed. Perhaps I can{line break}
impress the Queen...{null}
~
{164} - Skyway leading to Kajar
(I wasn't aware Enhasa was throwing a
costume ball today...){full break}
Wha? Oh, uh, nothing...
Going to Kajar, I presume?{null}
~
{165} - Kajar
Okay, I've got to do all of Kajar. I'll export it like the other stuff. Edit: I'm not quite done, but here's the main room dialogue:
......{full break}
You are strange.{delay 02}
But I need the cash.{null}
Lode Shields will come in this week.
They are the pinnacle of defensive
capability, able to deflect even
some Shadow magic.{null}
Don't mind him. He thinks he can
construct a Skyway that can phase
through solid matter and avoid line
of sight alignment.{full break}
A goal that ambitious...{delay 02}
Not even our beloved King could have
realized it.{full break}
But I'm sure his offspring, descendants
of the two most powerful magic users
in history, might have a chance at it.
Who knows what they're capable of.{null}
Kajar's latest research is astounding.
Long have we held that humans sprung
from primordial times with magic
as a deep-seated, natural trait.{full break}
Those without it, the Earthbound,
are a different species. But now...
Now, our tests of human Creation
Fibers paint a different picture.{full break}
The ability to use magic...
It seems to be naught but a small
candle, ignited or dormant, totally
unrelated to the rest of our bodies.{full break}
To think, magic ability is only
a small switch in our being...
As if spliced in to an already
complete template of humanity...{null}
Janus was here a moment ago.
That poor thing...
I don't think he's over his father's
death quite yet.{full break}
Maybe Alfador, and the star he
was named after, can cheer him up.{null}
I'm spent. Now that the elemental
wonders are sealed up, I'm having a
hard time adjusting to this new Lavos
energy.{full break}
Increased power or not, I need some
rest.{null}
The Gurus were close to our King
when fate struck him down.
His passing dampened our passion...{full break}
But the Queen will ensure that the
Mammon Machine, and the artifact, are
put to good use.{null}
Welcome to Kajar.
A traveler? Uncanny!
Please, before you go, lend some of
your unique knowledge to our ledgers.{null}
At times, you will hear shouts as
scientists discover some new truth
and quickly reveal it to the others.
It makes Kajar a little more exciting!{null}
Schala is such a sweet person.
She's the jewel of the kingdom,
inspiring with fairness and
gentleness...{full break}
I think Janus gets a little envious
of his sister at times.{full break}
{Magus}: {delay 02}...{null}
What a raw aura!{delay 02}
It's like staring into the sun!
And brilliant blue hair...
How peculiar.{null}
I say, can you hold on a minute?
We're trying to split Fire from a
Light convalescence!{null}
(I'll explain that later)
Whahaa!!{delay 02}
You startled me!
Studying spatially-enhanced Skyways
is tough, so don't bother me, okay?{null}
Kajar is such a different place from
Enhasa...{full break}
Whereas they embrace it, we eschew
sleep to realize dreams.{null}
The Mammon Machine was designed in
the style of the crest of Zeal, seen
on this tapestry.{full break}
Though I admit, the machine emits
a more sinister emanation...{null}
I can't begin to count how many
pieces of the infernal flying machine
Belthasar had us create in here.{full break}
Honestly, does he think we're Nu?
For a wise Guru, he's got nerve!{null}
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No corruption, but I can see a few errors in the text.
Ah, Vera speaks of fated dreams...
But I choose to imagine lucidly
in my sleep, and make my own
vespertine enterprisesas I please.{full break}
"Enterprise" and "as" should be separate words. This is the result of typos and copying and pasting into Temporal Flux, huh?
{Magus}: ...{line break}
Perhaps you should ask me in a few{line break
days' time.{null}
"day's time." gets cut off.
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Aha, the contrary. I wrote and saved in TF, then scrolled up through the dialogues to paste them here. Thanks for catching those.
I'm not sure if the Kajar dialogue I added is any good. There's a really important thing about the way humans received magic in there that might not be appropriate, and people seem to be a bit pushy around Kajar.
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Just a question: is this Vera a reference to Radical Dreamers? It seems obvious that is it because of the name, but apart from that I don't see the connection.
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Nah, I just couldn't think of a dreamy sounding name for a Zeal woman. I guess it sort of came subconsciously.
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Alright, a new patch. I have quite a few things to note but there actually isn't much new things in this version.
What I've added:
- All the dialogues from this thread except those for Kajar (Flux export still pending?)
- The Melchior scenes. To tell the truth, I didn't feel like mapping so I skipped the Mt. Woe part except for the cutscene at the top... I'm leaving the mapping for later or for others. Check Melchior's battle scene against Magus though, I had some fun coding it even though the result is a bit short (in my mind, Melchior is Green innate :) )
- Battle against the 4 Nu on a balcony in Enhasa (a placeholder area actually) + the Zeal and Dalton cutscene
What remains to be done up to this part of the story:
- Remaining maps for the Beast's Nest (or is this it?)
- Remaining maps for the Zeal Dark Wing area: note that the Queen's chamber should have teleporters, or somethings, connected to the throneroom and to Mt. Woe
- Maps for Mt. Woe: I'm not sure how, but the layout of the locations must take into account that Magus escorts NPC Melchior through it and protects him from enemies
- A script for this cutscene: "Cut to Magus walking down a lengthy hall, and a couple flashbacks of the Gurus helping Janus."
- The balcony tileset: the clouds from the Blackbird overview tileset are perfect, we can probably graphically replace the Blackbird itself with some tiles from Enhasa
Finally, an important point that I think must be corrected about the plot outline: "Magus is free to walk around Zeal. He eventually reaches Enhasa, stepping out onto a balcony." We should have some sort of trick to make the players know that they must go to the Enhasa balcony, because else they will definitely have no clue what they're supposed to do and they will wander for a long while from Zeal Palace before reaching Enhasa.
Edit: Oh and since there isn't much door or anything in Enhasa to put an access to the balcony, I replaced the healing square with a teleporter to it. I guess the balcony may be more a roof than a balcony this way but oh, well...
Edit²: And on the bonus side of things, I'm gaining a lot of experience and ideas from all this for Crimson Echoes. The original Blackbird overview tileset has layer2 clouds and ocean tiles plus awesome layer 3 transparent clouds on top (think Seiken Densetsu 3's intro sequence). We will definitely use that for the Vanguard Apocalypse Epoch cutscene...
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Finished!
Well, not really. I've finished coding the backbone of the game so that it can be played through up until the ending screen, but now there's the second phase of the development: hole-fixings, polishing, and the dungeons.
So, what remains to be done? Everything I wrote in the previous post, plus the big stuff like the Prophet's spriteset, etc. I'm going to do the Mt. Woe dungeon part now. Since this hack is short (in playthrough, not in coding), I'm going to turn this "Escort Melchior" into a minigame of sorts.
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Eh, incidentally, this is the point where the ROM has to be expanded. Let's hope it doesn't cause random corruptions or bad surprises.
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Not bad. I like it. But a few things were kinda meh...
1) Magus: Some of his text just didn't seem to much like him, but very rare.
2) I really doesn't say what your suppose to do after you see Schala and Janus on the mountain.
3) If you leave Zeal and go back to the "Cave" it'll do the whole mountain sequence again.
Other then that, it was excellent.
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My job ends on the 17th, at which point I'll be able to write dialogue and continue directing. I guess we should think about the hard, unusual stuff.
- Respriting - Okay, would anyone object if we...well, you know where this is going. Yeah, if we just ditched the cloak? But I guess Dalton needs to not have an eyepatch.
- New tileset - Chrono'99 does too much, but he's also the only one capable of this...
- New songs - After playing through, I'll see if we can stick in a couple Radical Dreamers tunes somewhere, and then fish Front Mission / other stuff to see if we can use one of the Crimson Echoes tunes we scrapped.
- Title screen hack - A tutorial here (http://www.romhacking.net/?Category=&Console=0&Game=0&Author=0&Recm=0&Level=&docsearch=++Go++&title=Adding+an+SNES+Intro+%28with+a+few+clicks%29&dsearch=&page=docs&action=doclist) talks about how to do it. If it's too tough, we can scrap it, I guess, but it'd be nice to load CHRONO COMPENDIUM with a big Frozen Flame.
- New enemies - Can be avoided, I guess. CyberSarkany can help test enemy balance, and we can tweak stats as needed.
Here is Kajar. I won't have a chance to work on this until the following weekend; Zeal Palace NPC dialogue will be my first priority.
If you guys want to toy around, we could try making the blue menu theme default, and then modifying it to a royal purple. And then I guess we can do a new Magus portrait of some kind.
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As I said in PMs, I have a couple minor issues with this plot that I will address.
- At the peak, Melchior asks Magus if he knows why he has complied so easily. As Magus begins one of his typical responses, Melchior produces the Red Knife. A scripted battle takes place; Magus senses the Masamune. Melchior is injured, but Magus knocks him out, heals him, and seals him in the crystal with Ozzie's technique.
My issue with this is not so much that Melchior fights with the Red Knife--because I love that idea--but that the cage of sorts Melchior was imprisoned in was created by a technique of Ozzie's. I object strongly to this because it is based in nothing but the fact that the sprite is identical, and we cannot simply see that as enough proof of anything in this game. We see reused sprites all the time...consider the 1000 A.D. Guards that end up guarding the director of Truce Dome, or the green-haired teenager NPC that ends up playing Glenn, or the servents in 1000 A.D. that double as waitresses in Choras of 600 A.D., ect ect. Reused sprites are not a basis for this, though this is more a part of my second objection.
Furthermore, it is the release of the cage that breaks the seal on Mount Woe, as evidenced by the fact that nothing happens until after Melchior is released. If the seal was Giga Gaia then the mountain would begin shaking itself apart immediately upon its death, not two minutes or so later.
- Magus finds Schala at the base of the mountain. She asks him if he has truly placed Melchior atop the mountain, noting that "imprisonment" really means death at the hands of Giga Gaia. Magus notes that he is safe. Schala draws near, but Magus pulls back, walking past her to the Skygate.
There is also nothing in the game that states this...there was never any impression that Giga Gaia was an executioner rather than merely a guard of the prison. Had this been the case Schala might have given Crono and the gang warning about Giga Gaia when they sought to rescue the imprisoned Guru, but we see nothing that says Melchior was ever in any danger.
- In the breached room, there are no monsters. Dalton enters with a Golem. However, Dalton reveals that he'd rather kill the Prophet himself, and attribute it to the breach.
- After the final battle, Magus wounds Dalton, injuring his eye. This explains the eye patch. Dalton threatens him further, but Magus notes that killing him would only incur suspicion. Magus lets him pathetically live.
Is this truly necessary? Admittedly it would be interesting to see why Dalton has the eye patch, and it would create some nice tension between Magus and Dalton but I'm not seeing the necessity of Magus inflicting the wound on Dalton's eye, as there was never anything that implied the wound was recent. But then, that's more a case of me quibbling over an unimportant detail, unlike the previous two issues.
Other than those minor issues which are easily reworked, I really like this plot and would love to see it proceed through.
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The cage spell is not such a huge detail; the technique isn't explicitely said in the hack to be Ozzie's technique. It's a bit like Kid's Red Pin tech in CC; one could imagine that Lucca taught Kid this tech (since Red Pin was originally a double tech between Lucca and Frog), but since it's never stated, nothing is asserted definitely. Same thing with this magic cage; nothing is stated explicitely, I think the player is free to imagine a link with Ozzie's magic cage or not.
As for the seal: the mountain doesn't begin crumbling immediately upon Melchior's release either, he has the time to tell a few things to the party. Since there was a clear lag between the breaking of the seal and the crumbling of the mountain, we can't really know what exactly the seal was out of the two actions the party did. For simplicity's sake, wouldn't it be better to say it was Giga Gaia though? If the seal were due to the cage, wouldn't it mean that Mt. Woe didn't float until the cage spell was cast upon Melchior, and thus that the Prophet himself raised a mountain above the ground just to seal Melchior?
There is also nothing in the game that states this...there was never any impression that Giga Gaia was an executioner rather than merely a guard of the prison. Had this been the case Schala might have given Crono and the gang warning about Giga Gaia when they sought to rescue the imprisoned Guru, but we see nothing that says Melchior was ever in any danger.
Good point, I agree.
Is this truly necessary? Admittedly it would be interesting to see why Dalton has the eye patch, and it would create some nice tension between Magus and Dalton but I'm not seeing the necessity of Magus inflicting the wound on Dalton's eye, as there was never anything that implied the wound was recent. But then, that's more a case of me quibbling over an unimportant detail, unlike the previous two issues.
It's true that there was nothing indicating the wound was recent... Crono's party arrives roughly after this scene, so when they meet Dalton in CT he should have had a big ugly bandage on the eye instead of this little post-wound eye patch.
On the other hand, I think this attack from Magus makes for a nice little "plot-twist" for the end of this hack. The end would be rather anti-climatic without something like this for the player to go "wahh!". Maybe the absence of bandage isn't really important; Zealians got magic, so maybe that's how Dalton healed quickly and didn't need a bandage (magic can't bring back injured eyes, but it can probably heal wound and make the bleeding stop). I guess Zeality has to decide :)
I'm beginning to think that there should actually be a few monsters and rooms inside the breach to turn this Ocean Palace sequence into a very small final dungeon, since otherwise the hack would be "just" a long sequence of cutscenes after the two first dungeons (Beast's Nest and Mt. Woe), despite the battle against Dalton. ...But let's get these two finished before considering adding another dungeon.
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The cage spell is not such a huge detail; the technique isn't explicitely said in the hack to be Ozzie's technique. It's a bit like Kid's Red Pin tech in CC; one could imagine that Lucca taught Kid this tech (since Red Pin was originally a double tech between Lucca and Frog), but since it's never stated, nothing is asserted definitely. Same thing with this magic cage; nothing is stated explicitely, I think the player is free to imagine a link with Ozzie's magic cage or not.
As for the seal: the mountain doesn't begin crumbling immediately upon Melchior's release either, he has the time to tell a few things to the party. Since there was a clear lag between the breaking of the seal and the crumbling of the mountain, we can't really know what exactly the seal was out of the two actions the party did. For simplicity's sake, wouldn't it be better to say it was Giga Gaia though? If the seal were due to the cage, wouldn't it mean that Mt. Woe didn't float until the cage spell was cast upon Melchior, and thus that the Prophet himself raised a mountain above the ground just to seal Melchior?
Point...a point indeed. I will, thusly, bow to this.
It's true that there was nothing indicating the wound was recent... Crono's party arrives roughly after this scene, so when they meet Dalton in CT he should have had a big ugly bandage on the eye instead of this little post-wound eye patch.
On the other hand, I think this attack from Magus makes for a nice little "plot-twist" for the end of this hack. The end would be rather anti-climatic without something like this for the player to go "wahh!". Maybe the absence of bandage isn't really important; Zealians got magic, so maybe that's how Dalton healed quickly and didn't need a bandage (magic can't bring back injured eyes, but it can probably heal wound and make the bleeding stop). I guess Zeality has to decide :)
I agree with you there...it definitely makes for a nice little ending plot twist. I merely questioned the necessity of it being the wound to Dalton's eye, as previously noted this raised minor issues. That said, I can definitely buy the healing magic reason for why the would did not appear fresh.
I'm beginning to think that there should actually be a few monsters and rooms inside the breach to turn this Ocean Palace sequence into a very small final dungeon, since otherwise the hack would be "just" a long sequence of cutscenes after the two first dungeons (Beast's Nest and Mt. Woe), despite the battle against Dalton. ...But let's get these two finished before considering adding another dungeon.
I like that idea...we need to ensure that the entire thing can be interacted with on a reasonable level. It may be a hidden side of the video game story, but there's no need for it to not play as a video game does...that's one of the great benifits to video gaming as an art form versus televions, movies, and books...you can interact with them, make choices, and overall immerse yourself deeper into the story.
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In this latest version that was in a corner of my computer for a while now actually, I've added Queen Zeal's bedroom (I wanted to use the nifty layer3 lights, so it kind of contrasts with the corridor, but let's just pretend this bedroom is a remain of how the Queen's style used to be before the Mammon Machine dark period). Also added a bit of Mt. Woe, but it's highly uncomplete. I think I forgot to add the Kajar Flux files too, will do later I guess.
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(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6889/noooooofu3.jpg)
The title screen map has been glitched since 20 backups! Damn. What do I do? Try to import all the new stuff into that very old backup rom to get a clean version, or just import a clean title screen map into the current rom to try to "mask" the glitch?
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False alert... The glitch is only visual. It's because I had replaced a blank tile with a custom tile for one location, and so the blanks in the title screen got changed into that custom tile. I just have to put real blank tiles on this title screen and that's it.
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Wait, do we still want to change the Giga Gaia thing? My idea came from the fact that there's no one else on Mt. Woe.
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Sorry, change what? I thought the current scene was fine (CT wasn't very precise about Mt. Woe in the first place).
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Well, I have Schala note that Giga Gaia actually is an executioner type demon. Back in March, there was a debate over whether that's true.
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Mmh... I forgot about that. Well, personally, I don't think the Schala example is a concrete evidence. Giga Gaia is a really powerful monster whether he's a guardian or an executioner, so if Schala wanted to warn the party about it, she would have warned them either way. The NPCs speak as if Melchior is just imprisoned, but maybe it's because they really think Mt. Woe is a mere prison.
In this hack, Schala knows the truth about Mt. Woe (probably because she's royal), but she also knows that the Prophet actually didn't let Melchior die, so this conforms with CT in which Schala asks the party to save Melchior (implying he isn't dead). We're expanding on CT with the executioner detail, but it doesn't contradict the game so I think it's fine.
In any case, I just finished coding and putting monsters in the Beast's Nest sequence. If things continue like this, the hack will probably be ready by December 25 or 26.
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Hey guys, how many characters are playable in this hack? I thought it was just Magus at first (as I've only recently jumped into this forum) -- are there more, and how many? I'm exploring some options for Magus' status screen portrait, and the presence of other status screen portraits will affect this effort.
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It's just Magus.
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Ah, sweetness. I can try something out then. I'll most likely not be able to break the 16 color limit, but I'm exploring that possibility. I can get the portrait in the game just fine; the palette reduction is the only headache left. Here's a preview of what's possible (note, no palette correction has taken place yet; it's using whatever colors are available by default in the game).
What do you guys think of the basic setup? Is it zoomed in too close on his face or does it look too pixelated or anything? I'll figure out what to do with colors of course.
Source pic is included below the screencap. Oh! I can make him face the other way too.
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It looks on the high end of what you can expect from the medium. With the correct palette, it'll be perfect. Yeah, you almost have to zoom in on the face to get any detail...
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Okay, now to work on colors. The art came from CuteLucca (Dark Matter, from her techs series) so I guess it would be prudent to shoot her an email about this if you'd like to use it. You're not distributing an entire ROM, correct? Only patches, I assume. I guess I'll have to figure out how to patch this in once I finish with the palette coloring.
Blech, going past the 15 color limit is impossible without some sort of ASM hacking to get the game to read these as 8 bits/pixel images. So 15 colors it is; I should finish sometime tomorrow, depending on how perfectionist I decide to get.
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We've already got de facto permission since she let us use images from that series and another art as selectable avatars on this forum.
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Just noting the names of the monsters present in the hack. We don't need huge mythological references and stuff, so they're just basic puns and descriptors, but feel free to post if you have requests or other ideas. The names of the monsters from CT that I replaced are given in parentheses.
Beast's Nest
-Slush (Shadow)
-Disgust (Sorcerer; pun on "gust")
-Planebound (Deceased)
-Beast
Mt. Woe (these ones are the same as in CT, except for the stat tweaks)
-Bantam Imp
-Man Eater
-Gargoyle
-Rubble
Ocean Palace (added a room before the empty one)
-Lambda (Nereid; it's a pun on the "Kappa" from Japanese folklore and FFVI)
-Eerie eel (Gnawer)
-Blob (same as in CT; this monster just drains your MP)
-Golem