Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
1
Chrono Trigger DS Analysis / Re: Say Wha!?!?!? Kitase in an XIII interview mentions Chrono Trigger DS success
« on: September 20, 2009, 05:16:00 am »
Not to be an ass or a downer but it sounds more like trying to cover their asses following the bullshit that they pulled with CE. First they kill that project. I don't want to get the right/wrong aspect of that debate going again but I will say that I still find it hard to believe that they had no clue about the project until mere days before it was suppose to come out. In any case you have them claiming poor sales on the DS version. Let's figure that about 5% of the game was the new script, the PS1 anime cutscenes, the new content, the DS features, ect. Either way they seem to have forgot that about 95% of it was a pure port of a game already released not once but TWICE! Frankly not enough people wanted to buy something that many already had two copies of despite the 5% that was new. Personally I wouldn't fault people for that.
Anyway someone at SE seems perplexed about questions in regards to the Chrono Series (can anyone find that interview somewhere?). Then they had the backlash from the fans for not only killing CE but trying to claim it was a dead series in another interview. Needless to say I think following the claims that CT DS was a poor seller and the fact that CE got killed some damage control was in order. The whole incident seemed to put SE in a very bad light. Don't forget that the story made top news on several big gaming websites. In any case this whole "surprising success" story seems to be Square's attempt to keep the fanbase at bay following the fallout created by the Crimson Echoes incident.
Do I hope to see a third official Chrono game come out in the future that answers some long standing questions? All the time. Do I expect to see it in the next 5 years much less ever? To be honest I wouldn't hold my breath. If it ever gets done at all I think it's going to be a fan effort thing that finally gets Square Enix off their asses. Don't forget the whole ordeal over the TV show Jericho on CBS about two years ago. Granted in the end they still got fucked by the network but I think a well run fan effort along the lines of what those fans did will get noticed much more than anything else we could possibly do.
Anyway someone at SE seems perplexed about questions in regards to the Chrono Series (can anyone find that interview somewhere?). Then they had the backlash from the fans for not only killing CE but trying to claim it was a dead series in another interview. Needless to say I think following the claims that CT DS was a poor seller and the fact that CE got killed some damage control was in order. The whole incident seemed to put SE in a very bad light. Don't forget that the story made top news on several big gaming websites. In any case this whole "surprising success" story seems to be Square's attempt to keep the fanbase at bay following the fallout created by the Crimson Echoes incident.
Do I hope to see a third official Chrono game come out in the future that answers some long standing questions? All the time. Do I expect to see it in the next 5 years much less ever? To be honest I wouldn't hold my breath. If it ever gets done at all I think it's going to be a fan effort thing that finally gets Square Enix off their asses. Don't forget the whole ordeal over the TV show Jericho on CBS about two years ago. Granted in the end they still got fucked by the network but I think a well run fan effort along the lines of what those fans did will get noticed much more than anything else we could possibly do.
2
Chrono Trigger DS Analysis / Re: Would a new "Ocean Palace Lavos" ending have been a good idea?
« on: September 20, 2009, 03:37:30 am »
I think the perfect non-canon 14th ending could have played out like this.....
Lavos is killed and the Ocean Palace is falling apart around you. The Queen isn't exactly happy and tries to stop your escape. Magus reveals himself and tries to fight her to buy you time. He insists on Crono and company protecting Schala on the way out. The party is confused but Schala sees the amulet just prior to a gate taking her and the party to the End of Time. Gasper greets the party and talks of how the future was saved at a terrible cost. He then sends you off to 1000 AD. The gate opens up outside of a futuristic looking Guardia Castle. It's revealed that Zeal survived and killed Magus. She too figured out who he really was during the fight and as a result has learned the true nature of your quest. When it became clear that Lavos was going to be killed Queen Zeal went ahead and unknown to the party turned up the power on the MM. Prior to the death of Lavos she has managed to suck out enough of his power and become immortal. As a result of being the most powerful person alive she has enslaved the world. As with most events in the game the script changes somewhat depending on who the other party members are but it unfolds like this:
(Note that the party members in this scene will be determined by who was with you upon fighting Lavos)
Member #1-*says something along the lines of never expecting things to change this much*
Zeal-Your fools....you thought I was wrong to use the power of Lavos for my own ends. Yet in your quest to save the primitive future that you originally came from you've gone ahead and made me the very thing you set out to stop. All the hopes and dreams that you could have experienced are gone forever! Destroyed by your very actions!
Member #2-What are we going to do Crono? (once again this will changed based on who is in your party)
At this point Crono draws his weapon and says his only line in the game:
Crono-We're going to end this once and for all!
*cue CT Main Theme and end credits*
Hell as I think about it I'm starting to imagine a fan modded CT that breaks off into this from the Lavos battle in the Ocean Palace with the true final boss being Queen Zeal. Of course it may be best to do this kind of thing as a fanfic. Wouldn't want the damn SE lawyers on your ass a second time :-/
Lavos is killed and the Ocean Palace is falling apart around you. The Queen isn't exactly happy and tries to stop your escape. Magus reveals himself and tries to fight her to buy you time. He insists on Crono and company protecting Schala on the way out. The party is confused but Schala sees the amulet just prior to a gate taking her and the party to the End of Time. Gasper greets the party and talks of how the future was saved at a terrible cost. He then sends you off to 1000 AD. The gate opens up outside of a futuristic looking Guardia Castle. It's revealed that Zeal survived and killed Magus. She too figured out who he really was during the fight and as a result has learned the true nature of your quest. When it became clear that Lavos was going to be killed Queen Zeal went ahead and unknown to the party turned up the power on the MM. Prior to the death of Lavos she has managed to suck out enough of his power and become immortal. As a result of being the most powerful person alive she has enslaved the world. As with most events in the game the script changes somewhat depending on who the other party members are but it unfolds like this:
(Note that the party members in this scene will be determined by who was with you upon fighting Lavos)
Member #1-*says something along the lines of never expecting things to change this much*
Zeal-Your fools....you thought I was wrong to use the power of Lavos for my own ends. Yet in your quest to save the primitive future that you originally came from you've gone ahead and made me the very thing you set out to stop. All the hopes and dreams that you could have experienced are gone forever! Destroyed by your very actions!
Member #2-What are we going to do Crono? (once again this will changed based on who is in your party)
At this point Crono draws his weapon and says his only line in the game:
Crono-We're going to end this once and for all!
*cue CT Main Theme and end credits*
Hell as I think about it I'm starting to imagine a fan modded CT that breaks off into this from the Lavos battle in the Ocean Palace with the true final boss being Queen Zeal. Of course it may be best to do this kind of thing as a fanfic. Wouldn't want the damn SE lawyers on your ass a second time :-/
3
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Ready for the next Chrono game? It's up to you.
« on: September 20, 2009, 02:36:47 am »
Sounds like a plan. I for one am no artist and there isn't much I can do to help but I would love to see something like this done.
4
General Discussion / Hey guys
« on: July 22, 2009, 07:08:27 am »
Been awhile since I last logged in. Been busy with getting my life back in order and doing a few other things. What did I miss in the past month and a half? Anything new with the C&D?[/b]
5
Chrono Trigger DS Analysis / Re: Sewers in 2300AD
« on: May 30, 2009, 07:53:56 am »
Wow.....gotta say I'm surprised. I figured it was a given that everyone knew he was there. Hell my first two times playing CT I thought that you HAD to go there during the first trip to 2300 AD. If anything for people that skip going there I'd have thought that your characters having a flashback to a scene you skipped may have been the hint that something was missed along the way 
Not saying anyone is dumb mind you.....as I said I'm just surprised ^_~
Not saying anyone is dumb mind you.....as I said I'm just surprised ^_~
6
Site Updates / Re: The Month That Could Have Been Announcement
« on: May 30, 2009, 04:33:44 am »
I nearly wrote a damn essay for this so here we go:
There is no need to say sorry Miki. G27 has shown time and again he's a stubborn, selfish idiot who won't listen to reason and common sense. I slightly got into it with him when he first showed up on the board. He's the type of smartass who will have an answer for anything you toss out and I don't mean that in the good way. Take a look at his posts overall. Being abrasive and rude wasn't working for him so he's trying to hide it by being a bit nicer now. However at the end of the day he still won't look at things clearly. Plus it's painfully obvious your trying to hide your self serving nature by acting like you know what your talking about and that everything will suddenly be ok if the team does what you say. However I need to be honest. He has made a few good points but they are moot when he makes them by being childish. So in the intrest of fairness I'm going to try to help the boy out with this......
Glenn I will say this in your defense: in my own opinion I too believe that Square's arguement is shakey. In the event DS's "e-mail" is real then Square did act on false info. Plus while Square may be in the right as far as defending their IP goes one does need to ask "Why just Chrono?" SE is so eagar to damn near lynch anyone who looks at the Chrono series the wrong way. However I've yet to hear of a case of them being so rabid when it comes to their two main "flagship" series. And it's not for a lack of hack projects involving Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest/Warrior. They are out there and a quick search will turn up far more of those than it will for a search of Chrono hacks. That fact alone along with several other things gives the CE team a pretty big leg to stand on if this somehow did go to court. It's like a termite colony. If your going to squash one then you damn well better be willing to go after them all.
Also in your defense: yes lawyers are a bunch of lying pricks. Due to a combination of the downward sprial of the economy, a lack of funds and sheer bad luck I've had my fair share of them in the past two years. I have almost been metaphorically fucked in the ass twice now due to a fender bender and unpaid rent at my old apartment. In case number one an elderly old woman backed into my PARKED Mustang that I was sitting in and yet she and her laywer claimed I somehow ran into her. Unknown to her I worked at the place it happened at and therefore had the security tape of said incident. The look on her face was priceless when she knew how screwed she was and they were forced to settle and pay me $550 in damages. Case number two is a very long story I really don't want to get into but the short end of it is that the client was only entitled to two months of rent plus intrest (about $1600). However him and his lawyer got a little too greedy and tried to claim about another $3000 in damages. That also didn't work out. At this point the only way I would want to deal with another lawyer is if he/she came in the form of representing my long lost uncle who just kicked the bucket and wants to give me a million dollars for some strange reason. In the infinitely unliked chance that does happen I'll put forth my million to help pay any legal fees the Compendium may face minus what I need to pay off my own legal touble and get me another car. Said Mustang has since died and frankly I need a decent set of wheels.
All joking aside back to the point. As me and Glenn have said and can clearly agree on the lawyers are a bunch of liars. Sure the Compendium and the CE team may have good points to make but it's a lawyer's job to stack the deck against the defendants as much as possible. If the lawyer is good then one of their jobs is to think of any possible counterargument the defense may make and be ready for it. Short of that the other tatic is to discredit the character of the defendant (hmm....I seem to remember some kind of trial scene for some RPG now but my memory is fuzzy
). As far as the money goes is $150K a drop in the bucket for SE? Very much so. Could they get close to that full amount? If the judge is halfway sane then no. However a good lawyer would try to push for $150K per person that worked on it. Granted that's unlikely as hell but while rare I've heard of cases where that has happened before. The other option is $150K per copy of CE that they could confirm to exist should it leak. And while I do agree that if companies like SE don't ease up in the near future that a stand will eventually need to be made the time for that stand is not now. Said stand cannot be expected to be made by a bunch of twentysomethings who are in college or just starting their lives and careers. Choices in life sometimes depend on weighing the risk against the gain and in this case the gain does not even come close to what could be lost should they lose. Sometimes in order to win a war you've got to be willing to accept a few defeats. Going back me putting you in their shoes for a moment......lets say this was your game and you released it and lost. Well from the way you've been acting the money isn't a problem for you so let's try something new. How easy do you think it is to get a job with a criminal record? I've known people like this and it's one of the hardest things in the world. Sure some of them may have learned and regret their past mistakes but would you truely blame someone for not wanting to take a risk in hiring them? As for any halfway decent or government jobs you can kiss those goodbye.
As one final note Glenn you keep pushing the regret card. You say they "wasted" five years. Well for one the CE team did this in their free time. If all they did was eat, breath and shit this game then I'd say it would have taken half the time it did to make. Sure it's a bummer to have SE be the party pooper but they got to learn new things in the process that I'm sure could be applied to any sort of job dealing with computers, game design, programing, ect. That right there hardly seems like a waste. Look at most of the sane people that write fanfiction and do fan art. I doubt most of them approach it like they are Tolkien or Picaso. It's done for fun and they too can apply it to something else later if they so choose. Consider the fact that Zeality is in Europe right now. Sure I'd imagine he's still kinda bummed but he doesn't seem to be filled with regret and guilt like you imply. If he had you attitude he'd be brooding and looking for ways to get back at Square Enix day and night (not to mention in the middle of a potential shit storm of legal issues most likely). In the end you need to grow up and learn that CE wasn't the most pressing issue in the world that had the very power to determine who lives and dies. Hell be thankful you even got the videos. I myself will be enjoying those greatly one this old dial up connection gets replaced with cable internet on Monday. Thanks for taking the time to do it Faust ^_~
There is no need to say sorry Miki. G27 has shown time and again he's a stubborn, selfish idiot who won't listen to reason and common sense. I slightly got into it with him when he first showed up on the board. He's the type of smartass who will have an answer for anything you toss out and I don't mean that in the good way. Take a look at his posts overall. Being abrasive and rude wasn't working for him so he's trying to hide it by being a bit nicer now. However at the end of the day he still won't look at things clearly. Plus it's painfully obvious your trying to hide your self serving nature by acting like you know what your talking about and that everything will suddenly be ok if the team does what you say. However I need to be honest. He has made a few good points but they are moot when he makes them by being childish. So in the intrest of fairness I'm going to try to help the boy out with this......
Glenn I will say this in your defense: in my own opinion I too believe that Square's arguement is shakey. In the event DS's "e-mail" is real then Square did act on false info. Plus while Square may be in the right as far as defending their IP goes one does need to ask "Why just Chrono?" SE is so eagar to damn near lynch anyone who looks at the Chrono series the wrong way. However I've yet to hear of a case of them being so rabid when it comes to their two main "flagship" series. And it's not for a lack of hack projects involving Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest/Warrior. They are out there and a quick search will turn up far more of those than it will for a search of Chrono hacks. That fact alone along with several other things gives the CE team a pretty big leg to stand on if this somehow did go to court. It's like a termite colony. If your going to squash one then you damn well better be willing to go after them all.
Also in your defense: yes lawyers are a bunch of lying pricks. Due to a combination of the downward sprial of the economy, a lack of funds and sheer bad luck I've had my fair share of them in the past two years. I have almost been metaphorically fucked in the ass twice now due to a fender bender and unpaid rent at my old apartment. In case number one an elderly old woman backed into my PARKED Mustang that I was sitting in and yet she and her laywer claimed I somehow ran into her. Unknown to her I worked at the place it happened at and therefore had the security tape of said incident. The look on her face was priceless when she knew how screwed she was and they were forced to settle and pay me $550 in damages. Case number two is a very long story I really don't want to get into but the short end of it is that the client was only entitled to two months of rent plus intrest (about $1600). However him and his lawyer got a little too greedy and tried to claim about another $3000 in damages. That also didn't work out. At this point the only way I would want to deal with another lawyer is if he/she came in the form of representing my long lost uncle who just kicked the bucket and wants to give me a million dollars for some strange reason. In the infinitely unliked chance that does happen I'll put forth my million to help pay any legal fees the Compendium may face minus what I need to pay off my own legal touble and get me another car. Said Mustang has since died and frankly I need a decent set of wheels.
All joking aside back to the point. As me and Glenn have said and can clearly agree on the lawyers are a bunch of liars. Sure the Compendium and the CE team may have good points to make but it's a lawyer's job to stack the deck against the defendants as much as possible. If the lawyer is good then one of their jobs is to think of any possible counterargument the defense may make and be ready for it. Short of that the other tatic is to discredit the character of the defendant (hmm....I seem to remember some kind of trial scene for some RPG now but my memory is fuzzy
). As far as the money goes is $150K a drop in the bucket for SE? Very much so. Could they get close to that full amount? If the judge is halfway sane then no. However a good lawyer would try to push for $150K per person that worked on it. Granted that's unlikely as hell but while rare I've heard of cases where that has happened before. The other option is $150K per copy of CE that they could confirm to exist should it leak. And while I do agree that if companies like SE don't ease up in the near future that a stand will eventually need to be made the time for that stand is not now. Said stand cannot be expected to be made by a bunch of twentysomethings who are in college or just starting their lives and careers. Choices in life sometimes depend on weighing the risk against the gain and in this case the gain does not even come close to what could be lost should they lose. Sometimes in order to win a war you've got to be willing to accept a few defeats. Going back me putting you in their shoes for a moment......lets say this was your game and you released it and lost. Well from the way you've been acting the money isn't a problem for you so let's try something new. How easy do you think it is to get a job with a criminal record? I've known people like this and it's one of the hardest things in the world. Sure some of them may have learned and regret their past mistakes but would you truely blame someone for not wanting to take a risk in hiring them? As for any halfway decent or government jobs you can kiss those goodbye.As one final note Glenn you keep pushing the regret card. You say they "wasted" five years. Well for one the CE team did this in their free time. If all they did was eat, breath and shit this game then I'd say it would have taken half the time it did to make. Sure it's a bummer to have SE be the party pooper but they got to learn new things in the process that I'm sure could be applied to any sort of job dealing with computers, game design, programing, ect. That right there hardly seems like a waste. Look at most of the sane people that write fanfiction and do fan art. I doubt most of them approach it like they are Tolkien or Picaso. It's done for fun and they too can apply it to something else later if they so choose. Consider the fact that Zeality is in Europe right now. Sure I'd imagine he's still kinda bummed but he doesn't seem to be filled with regret and guilt like you imply. If he had you attitude he'd be brooding and looking for ways to get back at Square Enix day and night (not to mention in the middle of a potential shit storm of legal issues most likely). In the end you need to grow up and learn that CE wasn't the most pressing issue in the world that had the very power to determine who lives and dies. Hell be thankful you even got the videos. I myself will be enjoying those greatly one this old dial up connection gets replaced with cable internet on Monday. Thanks for taking the time to do it Faust ^_~
7
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Chrono sequel - Let's cross the dimensions for a sec
« on: May 26, 2009, 05:53:59 am »
Ok seriously Belaith.....why even post in this topic if your just going to be a downer? Even without the C&D I've seen these kinds of topics pop up before for this series and various others (Zelda, FF, DBZ fighters, ect). If your going to be like this then here's two options for you: either don't post in this topic or you can leave the Compendium. Granted I may be new here but in light of all that's happened recently I feel I'm not the only one with those thoughts. It's one thing to say your tired of the C&D talk and not post in those kinds of topics. It's another to go around and tell people to "wake up" in a simple topic that has almost nothing to do with the C&D aside from maybe one or two mentions in passing as opposed to every single post being related to it.
In any case quick addition. How about in parts of the game taking place in the present and not involving time travel we boost the party size up from 3 to 4? In turn this could also introduce Quadra Techs ^_~
In any case quick addition. How about in parts of the game taking place in the present and not involving time travel we boost the party size up from 3 to 4? In turn this could also introduce Quadra Techs ^_~
8
Time, Space, and Dimensions / Re: Zeal Timeline (another possible timeline?)
« on: May 26, 2009, 05:41:33 am »
Honestly that's an idea I've never considered and a very intresting one at that. Obviously at the Ocean Palace they would have no choice but to fight Lavos then. However in the off chance they would have won you are right. Sure 1999 doesn't get blown up but neither does Zeal for that matter. Several things to consider:
1-Do Janus and the Gurus still get sent to their respective times?
2-In turn does this mean if Janus doesn't go to 600 AD the Mystic/Fiend War never happens, Cyrus never dies and Glenn never becomes Frog?
3-Does Zeal still become immortal?
4-Is Zeal still psycho?
5-With the death of Lavos does magic still exist or does it fade away ala FF6?
6-In turn if magic fades away would the Fall of Zeal still occur?
So much to consider. Nice topic X ^_~
1-Do Janus and the Gurus still get sent to their respective times?
2-In turn does this mean if Janus doesn't go to 600 AD the Mystic/Fiend War never happens, Cyrus never dies and Glenn never becomes Frog?
3-Does Zeal still become immortal?
4-Is Zeal still psycho?
5-With the death of Lavos does magic still exist or does it fade away ala FF6?
6-In turn if magic fades away would the Fall of Zeal still occur?
So much to consider. Nice topic X ^_~
9
General Discussion / Re: Does Anyone Play EVE?
« on: May 26, 2009, 05:20:10 am »
Never played Eve and now that I'm hearing all this I don't think I want to. The whole real time travel thing would get annoying for me real fast. Plus the lack of GM's strike me as being a bad thing for any MMO. I was big on WoW back in the day. May be starting again soon on a new server once my best friend from high school moves into my basement apartment with me and we get high speed internet. Right now my dad only has dial up and as I'm sure you can imagine doing anything more than a forum is a struggle :-/
10
Polling / Re: Who would you cast in a Chrono movie?
« on: May 26, 2009, 05:13:16 am »
I liked Depp as Jack Sparrow and that was about it so I'll do you one better.....
DEPP AS FLEA!!!!
And in regards to an anime movie without a doubt it would HAVE to be done by Bird Studios. That is flat out not open for debate since it IS Toriyama's company after all!
DEPP AS FLEA!!!!
And in regards to an anime movie without a doubt it would HAVE to be done by Bird Studios. That is flat out not open for debate since it IS Toriyama's company after all!
11
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Chrono sequel - Let's cross the dimensions for a sec
« on: May 26, 2009, 04:53:34 am »
Ok I came up with stuff to add about a battle system. However I'm doing this as a new post since this too is pretty detailed.
How about taking the best of both systems and combining them? The main engine and tech system would run on good old fashioned ATB and have MP instead of those one time use elements. However like in Cross each character has a stamina bar. ATB and stamina combined would give a new element and feel to the battles. A battle menu may look like this mock up:
Fight Name-HP/MP Stam ATB/Status
Combo Crono-246/32 100% Ready
Guard Marle-199/51 068% ---
Items Serge-227/19 -13% Fatigued
Instead of seven points it would be a pure 100% bar. Spells and attacks would drain various amounts of stamina. Whenever you do a physical attack all ATB bars will stop for the time being so you can issue attack commands to the active character. In keeping the tie with Cross you'd have three attack powers on your physicals. A quick attack that does low damage and is hard to dodge/block, the standard attack and a chance to go for a critical hit (with a high miss rate). However in a new twist if the critical hit misses or is blocked (or any of your attacks for that matter) your character cannot attack for the rest of their turn and may suffer a counter attack. This would work both ways and if an enemy misses their attack you can counter them and get a free round without waiting for the ATB gauge to fill all the way. As a result if both characters keep blocking and dodging this would kinda result in a small cinamatic battle of sorts (think of a sword fight or duel from LotR or Star Wars but on a much smaller scale). This little mini battle would go on until someone's stam hits the negative or they wait too long between attacks. Characters with ranged attacks cannot be counted if they are out of range. However a block or missed attack will instantly end their attack round. On the flip side if an enemy closes into melee range they can be countered. However in the case of someone like Lucca it may be best to just block and back away. After all that sledgehammer takes a moment to swing and would be very easy to counter compared to Crono's katana or Kid's daggers ^_~
As for recovering stam it would be somewhat like Cross but with additions. Each second of ATB time that passes will allow a character to recover 1% of their stamina. When a character guards they regain 25% of what their stamina stat is per second instead to a minimum of 2%. For example if Crono's stamina stat is 15 and he guards then he'll regain 3.75% per second of ATB time as opposed to 1%. In Schala's case if her stamina is 5 and she guards her rate would be 1.25% but since this is under 2% it would get rounded up. Guarding would also give the character a higher chance to counter an attack. Normal stamina recovery rates can also be doubled by the use of Haste. Not only would it boost the ATB bar by doubling speed but it would boost the recovery rates to the following:
2% per second normally
50% per second while guarding to a minimum of 4%
Techs would use both stam and MP. A low level tech such as Wind Slash may cost 2 MP and only 10% stamina. However something more high level such as Flare would cost 20 MP and 70% stamina. Also like the elements in Cross a Single Tech can be chained into a normal string of attacks as that character's final action that round. With enough MP/Stamina imagine launching into a 3-5 hit combo with Crono and then ending the round by using Confuse/Frenzy on the enemy. End result? A nice 23-25 hit combo! Characters can even use a more focused version of a powerful tech as the final blow. The focused version will hit only one enemy but do 1.5 times the normal damage. For example if Luminaire would normally hit a group for 1000 each then a Focused Luminaire can hit a single enemy for 1500!
Now the bad part about stamina.
Not paying attenion to the stamina costs of your actions in battle can cost you. Like in CC if you use an action that drops you into negative numbers you won't be able to take any actions until the character is no longer fatigued even if their ATB gauge is full. However it will be more dangerous in this game because for every 10% you lose your attack power, physical defense and chance to counter/dodge will drop by 2%. Sure.....go ahead and laugh at Dalton! Have Crono use Luminaire on him with it's 70% stamina cost when your sitting at only 20%! Now that Crono is at -50% you won't be laughing when Dalton's critial hit has an extra 30% chance to hit and does 30% more damage! Should Crono be lucky enough to survive that blow then it'll be up to Marle and Schala to keep him busy for the next 50 seconds as Crono recovers. Don't say you weren't warned!
How about taking the best of both systems and combining them? The main engine and tech system would run on good old fashioned ATB and have MP instead of those one time use elements. However like in Cross each character has a stamina bar. ATB and stamina combined would give a new element and feel to the battles. A battle menu may look like this mock up:
Fight Name-HP/MP Stam ATB/Status
Combo Crono-246/32 100% Ready
Guard Marle-199/51 068% ---
Items Serge-227/19 -13% Fatigued
Instead of seven points it would be a pure 100% bar. Spells and attacks would drain various amounts of stamina. Whenever you do a physical attack all ATB bars will stop for the time being so you can issue attack commands to the active character. In keeping the tie with Cross you'd have three attack powers on your physicals. A quick attack that does low damage and is hard to dodge/block, the standard attack and a chance to go for a critical hit (with a high miss rate). However in a new twist if the critical hit misses or is blocked (or any of your attacks for that matter) your character cannot attack for the rest of their turn and may suffer a counter attack. This would work both ways and if an enemy misses their attack you can counter them and get a free round without waiting for the ATB gauge to fill all the way. As a result if both characters keep blocking and dodging this would kinda result in a small cinamatic battle of sorts (think of a sword fight or duel from LotR or Star Wars but on a much smaller scale). This little mini battle would go on until someone's stam hits the negative or they wait too long between attacks. Characters with ranged attacks cannot be counted if they are out of range. However a block or missed attack will instantly end their attack round. On the flip side if an enemy closes into melee range they can be countered. However in the case of someone like Lucca it may be best to just block and back away. After all that sledgehammer takes a moment to swing and would be very easy to counter compared to Crono's katana or Kid's daggers ^_~
As for recovering stam it would be somewhat like Cross but with additions. Each second of ATB time that passes will allow a character to recover 1% of their stamina. When a character guards they regain 25% of what their stamina stat is per second instead to a minimum of 2%. For example if Crono's stamina stat is 15 and he guards then he'll regain 3.75% per second of ATB time as opposed to 1%. In Schala's case if her stamina is 5 and she guards her rate would be 1.25% but since this is under 2% it would get rounded up. Guarding would also give the character a higher chance to counter an attack. Normal stamina recovery rates can also be doubled by the use of Haste. Not only would it boost the ATB bar by doubling speed but it would boost the recovery rates to the following:
2% per second normally
50% per second while guarding to a minimum of 4%
Techs would use both stam and MP. A low level tech such as Wind Slash may cost 2 MP and only 10% stamina. However something more high level such as Flare would cost 20 MP and 70% stamina. Also like the elements in Cross a Single Tech can be chained into a normal string of attacks as that character's final action that round. With enough MP/Stamina imagine launching into a 3-5 hit combo with Crono and then ending the round by using Confuse/Frenzy on the enemy. End result? A nice 23-25 hit combo! Characters can even use a more focused version of a powerful tech as the final blow. The focused version will hit only one enemy but do 1.5 times the normal damage. For example if Luminaire would normally hit a group for 1000 each then a Focused Luminaire can hit a single enemy for 1500!
Now the bad part about stamina.
Not paying attenion to the stamina costs of your actions in battle can cost you. Like in CC if you use an action that drops you into negative numbers you won't be able to take any actions until the character is no longer fatigued even if their ATB gauge is full. However it will be more dangerous in this game because for every 10% you lose your attack power, physical defense and chance to counter/dodge will drop by 2%. Sure.....go ahead and laugh at Dalton! Have Crono use Luminaire on him with it's 70% stamina cost when your sitting at only 20%! Now that Crono is at -50% you won't be laughing when Dalton's critial hit has an extra 30% chance to hit and does 30% more damage! Should Crono be lucky enough to survive that blow then it'll be up to Marle and Schala to keep him busy for the next 50 seconds as Crono recovers. Don't say you weren't warned!
12
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Chrono sequel - Let's cross the dimensions for a sec
« on: May 26, 2009, 03:02:40 am »In all seriousness... dumb thread. Any questions?
Heh.....so says the guy saying not to post if you don't have anything relevant to say....
Nice idea Serge. While I'm still holding out hope that CE will somehow see the light of day in a playable form at this point in time it's time to put that whole mess behind us. My ideal game would be a sequel set about 5-10 years after CC that would finally patch up a few unanswered questions (some of which have been on our minds for almost 15 years mind you ^_~)
Be warned.....my brain is full of ideas and lots of detailed infomation so this is going to be LOOOOONNNNGGGG
-New location? If yes, what kind of setting would it have to be?
While it's still unclear where El Nido is in relation to the world map of CC (My money is on the middle of the ocean between Porre and Choras) I do have to go ahead and say the world is pretty well established at this point. What can be done however is expand the known locations to make the world feel bigger. Let's face it: game mechanics may be the reason we see only four main towns from 600 AD to 1000 AD (bear in mind CT did have six main world maps) but there would be no way in hell the game world is really that small.
-New cast of characters? If yes, what kind of characters would you like to see?
I'd say a nice balanced mix of CT/CC characters and new party members. If they keep the max roster down to 12 I'd say eight returning characters from the first two games and four new faces. For a gameplay idea I'll also say like in Cross certain choices will keep certain characters from joining the first go around with the inital new game resulting in only 6-7 characters. The following NG+ would unlock the other story/characters. Also if they go with the four element system from Trigger I'll say one person per group of four will cover that element. My proposed list of returning playable party members would include:
Returning from Chrono Trigger:
Schala: Not counting Kid she would be playable for the first time ever in the series. The battle with TD/Lavos in 1020 AD freed her into the world and in those five years she has aged to her proper age (early to mid 20's). Schala's main goal would be trying to find her brother. I'll say her element is Shadow for one big reason. While it would be natural to think of her of being her brother's opposite the fact that her sadness and deep down desire to see everything destroyed doesn't seem like something someone with an affinity to Light would do and feel. Like Magus/Janus she'd be able to cast a little bit of everything but her skills would lean more towards a support magic role (perhaps spells to mimic the effects of the elemental plates/vests from Trigger). Her theme music will remain unchanged from Trigger.
Marle: Revealed to have survived the Fall of Guardia but is currently "captive" in a way. She's still in power but being used as a puppet by Porre to do their bidding in Guardia. It's also revealed that during the fall she got seperated from Crono and was lead to believe he was their prisoner. The puppet part comes into play with threats against Truce, Crono and her life if she disobeys. Obviously she'll cover Water for the CT group. As for her theme I'd propose changing it. Instead of the shortened version of To My Dear Friends I'd say it would fit more to use To Far Away Times as her theme for two reasons. When I first heard it during CT I just got the sense that the future now held hope. This in turn could translate to the hope that Guardia will rise again. The second reason being the small part of Crono's theme near the end. This in turn can signify the fact that they are married at the end of CT.
Crono: Also revealed to have survived the Fall. First and formost in borrowing a concept from Golden Sun 2 he will no longer be silent as he is not the main character this time. The new characters will initally meet him as a man claiming to be the former Knight Captain of Guardia. As Marle is the royal heir I feel it would make more sense for him to be in that role as opposed to the main ruler. Over time the new characters will learn who he really is. Given the current in game situation will be unable to show himself and will have no choice but to bide his time until the start of this game. His element would obviously be Light and his theme would of course be Chrono Trigger.
Lucca: In a twist how about she starts the game dead as a result of what Lynx did in Chrono Cross? Lucca will be a hidden character and getting her will be somewhat like reviving Crono on Death Peak in the original game. In order to trigger the quest both Kid and Crono must be in the party since I feel they would be the two most likely to want to do this. Kid's reason would be to avoid seeing her die and Crono's reason would be to return the favor for saving him from Lavos. This sidequest results in a very tough boss fight against Lynx and Harle (in a cameo with a very nice remix of Brink of Death as the battle music). Losing the fight will not result in a game over but the party will sit helpless and watch Lynx murder her as the effects of the Chrono Trigger wear off sending them back to the present. If you win the fight Kid will try to kill Lynx but be stopped by Crono who will stress that his death will cause a bad time paradox. However since Lucca was obviously already dead then bringing her to the future will allow things to move along with disrupting the timeline. Lucca will at first be very confused upon arriving in the future since she'll now be much younger than both Crono and Kid. However upon learning the situation and of her original death she'll gladly join up with the party. Once again obvious element and theme music.
Returning from Chrono Cross:
Kid: Kid's story could be a very intresting one in a new game. With the knowledge that she's a clone of Schala her primary goal could be the exact same thing. Despite not having Schala's memories she could want to be searching for Magus to learn more about the past of the person she was cloned from. Unknown to her however the real Schala is also in the world and doing the very same. Her other goal would be to find a way to travel back in time to save Lucca (see above). In addition I think it'll look cooler if this time around she duel wields daggers instead of using only one. Kid would cover Fire for the CC team. Her theme music would be Star Stealing Girl.
Serge: Ok got to be honest here. I don't know of any halfway decent way to put Serge in this game. All things consided I feel that unlike Crono his part in the series as a whole was done at the end of Cross. However I feel he has to be in it somehow to represent Light so that we don't get some half assed CC character we don't give two shits about being the rep for CC. The best I can come up with is that obviously being friends following CC that Serge would be traveling with Kid since she would need a ship of some kind to get to Zenan. This in turn could lead him into talking another character into helping which you'll see below in a moment. Like Crono since he is no longer the main hero he too would have lines in this game. Serge's theme would be Scars of Time (with the slow opening part cut out ^_~).
Fargo: Once again the only halfway decent reason I can come up with is Kid needs to travel to Zenan, ect and Serge is the one to ask. Fargo covers Water for CC. As for theme music the best I can do is the music that plays when your on his ship.
Guile: Guile returns to finally show who he really is......the Magus/Janus from the new ending in CTDS of course! Upon learning who he really is he tries to search for both Kid and Schala. Also the brooding personality will be about 80% gone. He'd still have his moments but would be a better person overall since he knows both Kid and Schala are alive and Lavos is gone. Guile/Magus/Janus covers Shadow for the CC characters and upon regaining his memory would have his original theme music from Cross.
-New Lavos creature or a new version of Lavos? Or an entirely new enemy? Who should be the antagonist in this game?
Lavos is a case of been there/done that since with the release of CTDS he's been fought three times now (his original form, DD and TD). At this point even if he could be brought back in a believeable way it would be an eye rolling Jump the Shark moment for me. You need a new main villain but the whole mess with Dalton and Porre needs to be resolved. This could also possibly lead to someone like Norris from Cross being a boss character and lead to intresting moments between Crono and Serge if he was involved with the battle that toppled Guardia.
-Time travel and/or dimension crossing? Yes or no? Or something completely new? If yes, what?
Being a Chrono game time travel in some form is a must even if it's only limited to two or three eras. Crossing the dimensions shouldn't be done since everything was suppose to have merged into one ideal timeline at the end of Cross.
-New gameplay or not? New battle system? New magic? Also let's hear any good gameplay ideas you have.
First and foremost the battle system needs to go back to Trigger or something close to it. I felt many battles in Cross copped out by letting you run away to start from scratch. Sure you couldn't leave the room when you did this but you could heal up to full, change equipment, ect. I could never see Lynx or anyone else for that matter get the upper hand and then turn around and say "Yeah that's enough for now. I'll back off so you can have a sporting chance in this!" Same with the elements. To make things a little more simple it should go back to Trigger's four element system. Magic and tech wise anyone returning needs new attacks mixed in with the old. Also to be more in line with Final Fantasy I think perhaps going to their spell naming system wouldn't be bad because IMO Cure, Cura, Curaga, ect. sounds better than Cure, Cure 2, Double Cure. And while I wouldn't mind Flare being renamed Firaga certain iconic spells such as Luminaire should be off limits and keep their names.
As for Techs some of these aren't quite new and are only replacing one of the characters needed. Others would be totally new:
Returning Techs with new characters:
X-Strike and Triple Attack (Crono, Serge. new main hero)
Same as in the first two games. As for the triple tech version instead of a Robo Tackle added onto X-Stike it'll be the third character coming up the middle and slashing as well.
Sword Stream (Crono and Schala)
While I said Schala would be more defensive in nature for her spells I would imagine she'd have one or two offensive spells. As a result in further being the opposite of her brother she'd have Water 2 instead of Ice 2. This in turn would let her replace Frog for this tech.
Ice Water and Glacial Freeze (Marle and Schala)
See above ^_~
Twin Charm (Marle and Kid)
In the new version of this tech Marle would distract the target while Kid helps herself to whatever they may be carrying.
Double Bomb (Lucca and Kid)
Kid takes Robo's place for this one as both Lucca and Kid toss a Magaton Bomb at the same time.
Delta Force (Crono/Serge, Marle/Magus, Lucca/Kid)
The original team of Crono, Marle and Lucca would still be able to cast this spell but you'd also have the option of using one of the other listed characters in the event someone wasn't avalible (such as Lucca's still DEAD! lol)
Delta Storm (Crono/Serge, Lucca/Kid, Schala/Fargo)
See above only in this case a water user replaces Frog.
Just so I'm not at this all day let me just say this. In the new game all Doubles and Triples should be expanded so that as long as the party members knew the right spells then it would be possible to cast. Hell with that as an option you could do Antipode Bomb with Kid and Magus if you want instead of Marle and Lucca. Just think of any combo from Trigger and let the imagination run wild! ^_~
Possible new Techs
Elemental Barrier (Schala)
A variant of the Barrier spell Magus uses. Unlike his spell which boosts magic defense her version would be for one element and have the same effect of Elemental Plate/Vests from CT. However in all fairness they cannot be stacked and casting a new version would cancel out the last one cast (unless that person is wearing an Elemental Plate of course. Then you could have up to two ^_~)
Eternal Darkness (Schala and Magus)
Originally a Triple in CT with Marle and Lucca as the other members. Perhaps it can now be a Double Tech cast by the Zeal siblings. Plus if the game had voice acting I think it'd be awesome to hear them both say some very wicked/dark sounding lines as the cast the spell:
Magus-The Black Wind howls.....
Schala-The end of all is nigh.....
Both-Eternal Darkness!
Lightning Sword 1&2 (Crono and Magus/Serge)
A new Light based version of Ice/Fire Sword.
Holy Light (Crono and Serge)
One person casting Luminaire is bad enough if your on the wrong end of it.....just imagine the sheer power of two people duel casting it! This would be a Light based version of Eternal Darkness.
Mighty Guard (Lucca, Magus, Schala)
A combination of Protect, Barrier and one Elemental Barrier on the whole party. All damage is reduced by 1/3 regardless of type and one element is absorbed. Hell as I think about it the only weakness a party of these three may have is if Schala was lacking some form of Cure!
Once again I could be here all night just thinking of new Techs so by all means jump in with ideas guys! Also as one more gameplay feature that borrows from Golden Sun 2 how about the main battle music changes based on who the party leader is? For example if Marle or Crono is leading it'll be CT's battle theme. If it's Serge or Kid it'll be the music from CC. Finally a new character would be whatever the new battle music is.
-Who would have to draw the characters? Do you want Mr. Toriyama back, or Nobuteru? Or someone else?
Given the nature of this game having characters from the first two games as well as new ones here's my idea. Have Toriyama do new updated designs of the original CT characters since most of them would have aged 10-30 years depending on what happened to them. Do the same with Nobuteru and his Cross characters. Perhaps since they will not have aged much perhaps something as simple as new outfits/hairstyles. Sole exception may be Kid. Perhaps make her look closer to being a blond haired "twin" of Schala and more in line with Toriyama's art style. For the new characters bring in a new guy but before all is said and done have him adapt the Toriyama and Nobuteru designs into his own art style so that is doesn't feel like they are clashing. While that may sound like it would be hard to do bear in mind Nobuteru's art for Belthasar in Cross was very close to the original Toriyama art from Trigger.
-Name the characters who would definitely, no matter what, have to make a cameo appearance. Can be anything, from playable characters to NPC's to Nu's.
Without a doubt Dalton. He wouldn't be the main villain but he'll play a big part since I'm sure Crono, Marle and Lucca have a bone to pick with him. Plus I could forsee Magus and Schala also wanting to see him go down. The three Gurus also need to appear. Finally it wouldn't be bad to see Doan in a nice suit and looking a little younger due to living a better life in a new future. Speaking of which......
-Which time period has to be in it no matter what?
1025-30 AD would be the present for this game. However as the main timelines I'd say that, 2330 AD in the new future and perhaps 11970 BC. We do need to see a bit of the recovery of the world following the Ocean Palace incident.
I think this'll cover everything I have in mind at this moment. As I see other people post I may pop back in with new ideas inspired by whatever you guys may think of ^_~
13
Site Updates / Re: Cease & Desist Letter
« on: May 21, 2009, 09:04:30 pm »
I'm with Blarg. See if you can get with a laywer and find out if you'd be able to give SE a time frame to reply.
(Don't really know how to word this so bear with me)
If the laywer says you can give them a time frame to reply in (say by June 30th) but then they don't then see if you'd be able to release CE without any legal action. Also don't forget the new facts we now know in regards to that troll. I feel that was a game changer right there. Plus point out the fact that it's a patch, it's the SNES version, it's not copy protected, the bad press SE is getting online with links to the bigger ones, ect. At the very least provided nothing leaks then your in the same boat you were in before.
Also I find it cool that the Guardian covered this. I'm guessing in the UK they are like our USA Today. Now for the next step.....NINTENDO POWER, GAMEPRO OR IGN!!!
(Don't really know how to word this so bear with me)
If the laywer says you can give them a time frame to reply in (say by June 30th) but then they don't then see if you'd be able to release CE without any legal action. Also don't forget the new facts we now know in regards to that troll. I feel that was a game changer right there. Plus point out the fact that it's a patch, it's the SNES version, it's not copy protected, the bad press SE is getting online with links to the bigger ones, ect. At the very least provided nothing leaks then your in the same boat you were in before.
Also I find it cool that the Guardian covered this. I'm guessing in the UK they are like our USA Today. Now for the next step.....NINTENDO POWER, GAMEPRO OR IGN!!!
14
Polling / Re: Do you think you'd have discovered Chrono if it came out on a later system?
« on: May 21, 2009, 07:37:45 am »
As long as we're talking pre-FFX then yes I would have still played CT no matter what system it was on at the time. FFX was the last halfway decent FF in my eyes despite some of the flaws it had. If we're talking after FFX then it may have been debatable on if I would have played it or not.
15
Site Updates / Re: Cease & Desist Letter
« on: May 21, 2009, 03:54:32 am »Square isn't printing CC anymore, so the only copies of it you'd be able to play you would be getting used. Square would make no money off of that at all.
This may be true but personally I think CTDS may be doing well enough to convince SE to do a DS/PSP remake of Cross.
Come to think of it SE has been doing a TON of remakes in the past year or two. CTDS, FF3&4DS, FF4-6A, Secret of Mana on the Wii VC and I think even the original Valkyrie Profile on the PSP. I'm sure I've mised one or two but my point is I don't think a CCDS/PSP is out of the question ^_~