Messages

1

Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: anti-theories

« on: April 10, 2012, 10:52:36 pm »

General Viper demands all meetings with foreign ambassadors be in the form of tea parties. No exceptions.

2

General Discussion / Re: The Chrono Compendium Poets Bakery

« on: February 20, 2012, 08:52:54 am »

I Like Americans
By A. Foreigner
I like Americans.
They are so unlike Canadians.
They do not take their policemen seriously.
They come to Montreal to drink.
Not to criticize.
They claim they won the war.
But they know at heart that they didn't.
They have such respect for Englishmen.
They like to live abroad.
They do not brag about how they take baths.
But they take them.
Their teeth are so good.
And they wear B.V.D.'s all the year round.
I wish they didn't brag about it.
They have the second best navy in the world.
But they never mention it.
They would like to have Henry Ford for president.
But they will not elect him.
They saw through Bill Bryan.
They have gotten tired of Billy Sunday.
Their men have such funny hair cuts.
They are hard to suck in on Europe.
They have been there once.
They produced Barney Google, Mutt and Jeff.
And Jiggs.
They do not hang lady murderers.
They put them in vaudeville.
They read the Saturday Evening Post
And believe in Santa Claus.
When they make money
They make a lot of money.
They are fine people.
1923

I Like Canadians
By A. Foreigner
I like Canadians.
They are so unlike Americans.
They go home at night.
Their cigarets don't smell bad.
Their hats fit.
They really believe that they won the war.
They don't believe in Literature.
They think Art has been exaggerated.
But they are wonderful on ice skates.
A few of them are very rich.
But when they are rich they buy more horses
Than motor cars.
Chicago calls Toronto a puritan town.
But both boxing and horse-racing are illegal
In Chicago.
Nobody works on Sunday.
Nobody.
That doesn't make me mad.
There is only one Woodbine.
But were you ever at Blue Bonnets?
If you kill somebody with a motor car in Ontario
You are liable to go to jail.
So it isn't done.
There have been over 500 people killed by motor cars
In Chicago
So far this year.
It is hard to get rich in Canada.
But it is easy to make money.
There are too many tea rooms.
But, then, there are no cabarets.
If you tip a waiter a quarter
He says "Thank you."
Instead of calling the bouncer.
They let women stand up in the street cars.
Even if they are good-looknig.
They are all in a hurry to get home to supper
And their radio sets.
They are a fine people.
I like them.
1923

3

Kajar Laboratories / Re: I want to write the story -- Chrono Trigger Final

« on: February 12, 2012, 05:53:34 pm »

Of course, Schala has to die for the ending to be meaningful IMO. I think that's why the ending to CC is so vague and meaningless ... it was decided that Schala had to be saved, but it doesn't really fulfill the story at all. When you deal with themes in writing, you must carry them out to their final, most powerful conclusion. The Kingdom of Zeal represented a society that reached untold heights and could only destroy itself -- which it inevitably did. Schala is not immune from that,,,,all of Zeal had to eventually suffer the same fate. From a thematic standpoint, it was inevitable, and then butchered by the CC team. Oh well.

I think it can be written in a way that makes CC an alternate reality from CT. I don't want to ruin CC for people who love that game, I know some played it before CT and prefer CC, so an alternate timeline theory could allow it to remain cannon. But IMO the two games are really not connected. CC was in fact an original story, and the links to CT were added on after the fact for marketing purposes. I don't think it's fair to constrain future CT works because an entirely separate story was tacked on for purposes of money, and at the same time I also would not think it fair to just dismiss CC because it has its devoted fans too. Let the games stand on their own merits, IMO!

You're wrong on both counts. CC's ending was not vague and meaningless, assuming you meant the text monologue at the end of the game after you defeat TD with the Chrono Cross; it's Schala's monologue to Serge, and the healing of the time-space continuum after distortions from the events of CT. And its links to CT weren't just "linked on"; the game has just about everything to do with CT (Zeal especially), albeit revealed a little later in the game, not to mention that the game had even more connections to CT in its initial development stages.

4

Kajar Laboratories / Re: I want to write the story -- Chrono Trigger Final

« on: February 12, 2012, 10:45:05 am »

Ever since I watched the end credits to Chrono Cross the first time I've been fascinated with the idea of a collection of short stories consisting of different iterations of Serge and Kid throughout time and space interacting with eachother and piecing together the true origins of their relationships, within their respective dimensions at first but at some point communicating interdimensionally. Kind of like in The Fountain but not as vaguely established. It could probably be done in written medium but I think an OVA or animated film would be more fitting for the type of story being told.

I'm not so sure about a lot of your ideas, especially Schala dying because it honestly kind of flies in the face of what CC was all about. But you should definitely keep writing and focus on the most solid ideas you do have; this reminds me a lot of the advancements made in CTDS, and those to me felt a little half-baked but you could probably totally outdo what SE did.

5

Fan Art / Re: Cape Howl WIP

« on: February 10, 2012, 09:16:00 pm »

some good shit. work on blending your colors in clouds/sky, otherwise the one's you've got are already awesome. makes me want to paint more.

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Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Cross's Hit % is a liar.

« on: February 06, 2012, 08:41:48 am »

an attack with 67% hit rate just happens to hit a lot less than 67% of the time. i'm sure it's not completely accurate

7

Fan Art / Re: Quick Sketch

« on: February 01, 2012, 04:02:41 pm »

pfft magus more like GAYgus

8

General Discussion / Re: The $%*! frustration thread

« on: February 01, 2012, 04:00:05 pm »

Man, Boo has a kid? Time flies, I remember hearing about your marriage and that must be years ago. Congrats dude.

On another note, I've been having really weird palpitations lately, and even after a physician's confirmation that I'm healthy and it's just stress I still can't stop focusing on them. I had several panic attacks at first, luckily I managed to calm myself down before I called an ambulance the first time. It's not frightening so much now as it is just annoying; I can never stop feeling and hearing that "buhbump" all the time. I haven't had a panic episode since Saturday but I just wish I could focus on things without forcing myself to ignore my heartbeat.

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General Discussion / Re: The Chrono Compendium Poets Bakery

« on: January 30, 2012, 10:39:03 pm »

roses are red, violet's aren't.
ron paul for president 2012 and
911 was an inside job.

oh man i could totally never do poetry. i'll stick to normal fiction for now. here's some bukowski:

   
About my very tortured friend, Peter.
he lives in a house with a swimming pool
and says the job is
killing him.
he is 27. I am 44. I can’t seem to
get rid of
him. his novels keep coming
back. “what do you expect me to do?” he screams
“go to New York and pump the hands of the
publishers?”
“no,” I tell him, “but quit your job, go into a
small room and do the
thing.”
“but I need ASSURANCE, I need something to
go by, some word, some sign!”
“some men did not think that way:
Van Gogh, Wagner—”
“oh hell, Van Gogh had a brother who gave him
paints whenever he
needed them!”


“look,” he said, “I’m over at this broad’s house today and
this guy walks in. a salesman. you know
how they talk. drove up in this new
car. talked about his vacation. said he went to
Frisco—saw Fidelio up there but forgot who
wrote it. now this guy is 54 years
old. so I told him: ‘Fidelio is Beethoven’s only
opera.’ and then I told
him: ‘you’re a jerk!’ ‘whatcha mean?’ he
asked. ‘I mean, you’re a jerk, you’re 54 years old and
you don’t know anything!’”


“what happened
then?”
“I walked out.”
“you mean you left him there with
her?”
“yes.”


“I can’t quit my job,” he said. “I always have trouble getting a
job. I walk in, they look at me, listen to me talk and
they think right away, ah ha! he’s too intelligent for
this job, he won’t stay
so there’s really no sense in hiring
him.
now, YOU walk into a place and you don’t have any trouble:
you look like an old wino, you look like a guy who needs a
job and they look at you and they think:
ah ha!: now here’s a guy who really needs work! if we hire
him he’ll stay a long time and work
HARD!”


“do any of those people,” he asks “know you are a
writer, that you write poetry?”
“no.”
“you never talk about
it. not even to
me! if I hadn’t seen you in that magazine I’d
have never known.”
“that’s right.”
“still, I’d like to tell these people that you are a
writer.”
“I’d still like to
tell them.”
“why?”
“well, they talk about you. they think you are just a
horseplayer and a drunk.”
“I am both of those.”
“well, they talk about you. you have odd ways. you travel alone.
I’m the only friend you
have.”
“yes.”
“they talk you down. I’d like to defend you. I’d like to tell
them you write
poetry.”
“leave it alone. I work here like they
do. we’re all the same.”
“well, I’d like to do it for myself then. I want them to know why
I travel with
you. I speak 7 languages, I know my music—”
“forget it.”
“all right, I’ll respect your
wishes. but there’s something else—”
“what?”
“I’ve been thinking about getting a
piano. but then I’ve been thinking about getting a
violin too but I can’t make up my
mind!”
“buy a piano.”
“you think
so?”
“yes.”


he walks away
thinking about
it.


I was thinking about it
too: I figure he can always come over with his
violin and more
sad music.

10

Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Chemo Cross: "Like augmenting a premature baby"

« on: January 26, 2012, 06:35:22 pm »

See, I always liked the subtle and open-ended connections to CT. It really helped stretch the game's theme of time and space being such vast concepts, and how easily you can be separated from someone without hope of hearing from them again. It had a lot to do with not being bound by the past and finding value in your own life regardless of how minute and unimportant it seems. While CT was a story about bending the laws of reality for your own, human will, CC was a story about acceptance and transcendence. It even blatantly made it clear, when the only character from CT, Robo, dies after a few lines of dialogue; his final words ,"Do it for the future", while you want to sympathize with feel completely unrelated to the game's actual conflict, and you digest them semi-apathetically, as Serge would.

It was a game meant to illustrate the ethics of time travel, and how one man's (Crono in this case) actions can seem similar to a messiah's, but later on completely warp the life of someone else (Case in point: Serge). It isn't Chrono Trigger 2, and the fact that it manages to feel that way, while it understandably upsets some fans, only impresses me further. The developers really utilized the abilities that only a game has as a storytelling medium.

11

Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Chemo Cross: "Like augmenting a premature baby"

« on: January 25, 2012, 03:46:56 pm »

I played CC long before I had ever gotten a chance to play its predecessor, and because of this I feel I was able to digest it without noticing the bad taste it left in the mouths of a lot of CT's fans. The battle engine was gracefully designed, the visual and musical assets wonderful throughout, and it delivered a plot with a very sophisticated and realistic take on some surprisingly mature themes for a video game at the time, while still retaining a charming and believable fantasy setting. The only thing that really bothered me was the pacing; the game felt somewhat rushed, especially near the end of the game, but that didn't keep me for enjoying it.

After I played CT for the first time, I began to understand exactly why people didn't like CC, for reasons beyond just not being "Chrono Trigger 2". Of the two games I still tend to hail CC as my favorite, and in this thread I'd like to see if we can build some bridges and maybe close the gap between Cross-haters and Cross-sympathizers.

CC fans, what do you feel could have been added to the game to enrich the experience as a "Chrono" title? CT fans, what did you really enjoy about the game? If possible, I think it would be interesting to collect ideas from the community, and draft a revised, more "whole" take on the game; I like to call it "Chemo Cross".

To kick things off, I think it would've been really cool if there had been a boss fight between Serge/Lynx & Friends and the Crono & Co. ghosts. Especially given their appearance as young children, it would have been a jarring, yet satisfying experience that would've given CT diehards a direct appearance from the cast they loved (in one form or another) and simultaneously identify CC as it's own, separate individual experience.

12

General Discussion / Re: The $%*! frustration thread

« on: January 24, 2012, 09:44:31 pm »

I had a paid Megaupload account, FBI. That's not cool.

13

Polling / Re: Which Chrono character has the least character development and why?

« on: January 24, 2012, 09:23:51 pm »

At the expense of voting outside of the choices, Belthasar is a stubborn, one-dimensional dick. Quit doing so much goddamned science man, you're screwing reality up. You think he would've learned his lesson the first time he got sent to the future.

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Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Can't rename Serge "Crono"

« on: January 17, 2012, 09:57:38 pm »

I pulled out my old copy of CC today, because I'm the kind of person who replays games they've already beaten multiple times in their hours of leisure rather than be productive. I discovered something interesting though; you can't rename Serge "Crono" at the start of the game. You can name him quite literally anything but Crono. The game simply refuses to accept it as a name and forces you to enter something else.

I encourage anyone with a copy of the game to try it out for themselves, because I had never even heard of it until now. It's interesting there's still things we're learning about a game released roughly 12 years ago.

15

Fan Art / Re: Marle 3D model

« on: January 13, 2012, 04:05:33 pm »

Man, it's always surprising the amount of talent and skill it must take to create these. 3D modeling seems like such a daunting task, that there's an amateur community and people who do serious from-scratch fan models is so cool.