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1

Chrono News / Yoshinori Kitase mentions possible Chrono Trigger remake on podcast

« on: February 28, 2024, 03:14:40 pm »

See here.

"Kitase described three different routes for a potential Chrono Trigger remake: a port, a graphical remaster or a remake of the scope of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Parkin shared his view on the matter, stating that he appreciated what Nintendo did with its remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Kitase responded by thanking Parkin for his great input."

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General Discussion / Re: Let's Play 2024 - Chrono Trigger

« on: December 31, 2023, 05:18:44 am »

Envious you got to play it back then. I got my SNES Everdrive finally working and am dying to play the MMX games again to relive them, because I did the same thing there—I'd rent them from Blockbuster for a weekend and try to beat them in three days. Who knew those would be some of the most expensive and valuable carts out there now?

But I won't distract too much! Back to he party.

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Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Final Fantasy Dimensions II

« on: December 14, 2023, 08:18:48 pm »

I'll be curious how it goes down, because it sounds like civilization causes the Day of Lavos by itself again by triggering this "Flare" weapon. And then you have the ultimate Esper being some little chibi thing called "Mootie", which sounds like another Pip thing, christ. But there appears to be this overarching form of "Chaos" that's devoted to making sure the Day of Lavos-type thing happens regardless of humanity's intention.

Mysidia definitely seems to be the stand-in for Zeal. Ancient, floating civilization...hard to find out what the "crisis" was.

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Site Updates / 2023 Update! Mathew Valente's Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers Restoration!

« on: December 11, 2023, 02:33:06 am »

We kick things off with the realization that Mathew Valente (or as you may know him, tssf from the Chrono Trigger Resurrection progress) finished his Synthetic Origins restoration of Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers music! Restorations involve tracking down the original high-quality source samples that companies downsized for use in games, with a loss of fidelity. This restoration sounds just incredible. Check out the FF4, FF5, and FF6 restorations too! You can find them all right now right here. The Compendium will keep a backup of these.

Welcome to the 2023 update! We've got a bitter pill to lead this one off, as we've got a new article by me soapboxing about the problems with Chrono Cross's story. This effort was motivated by one last round of Q&A with Masato Kato on Square's Twitter (see links below the jump). If you want to check out the article immediately, hit this mysterious thumbnail!



[INTERVIEWS]  First up is a Chrono Cross remake interview with Hiromichi Sakamoto, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Masato Kato, brought to us by Trig! Check it out here. Though it's mostly about music, Kato confirms that he wrote Radical Dreamers completely as an original story, before declaring that it linked to Chrono Trigger at the end of the process. Which...sigh...  [2]  The much-maligned Kato/Mitsuda Q&A by Square on Twitter had one final update, which further evidenced that Cross's creative team truly did not plan the plot in detail. Brand new problems from this interview include: 1) Kid apparently remembers Serge saving her at the orphanage when they first meet in 1020 A.D., which...of course, hasn't happened yet! 2) The question of how the Masamune came to be corrupted was once again totally dodged; I'm ready to assume there's simply no story for this. 3) It's confirmed that Serge loses his memories of Chrono Cross after it's done, and that Kid is searching for him across timelines, which...he's right there in Arni, in 1020 A.D.! Go look him up!! 4) The Kingdom of Guardia receiving Schala's pendant, despite her being sucked into the DBT from the Ocean Palace, is explained by speculating that Serge, Kid, and other Cross party members visited Zenan early in Marle's life to give her the pendant. Predestination paradoxes galore.

[HACKS]  wakkoswami has released a revision of the original KWhazit translation, building on the prior work by DoctorL and LethargicOwl; check it out here! Thanks to everyone who spent time getting this up to speed as the definitive SNES retranslation.  [2]  The Turkish Chrono Trigger translation project has released another incremental update; they are now on version 0.8. Let's cheer as they get closer to the finish line! Grab this update here.  [3]  You're well-acquainted with it already, but I still wanted to note that Chrono Trigger Soundtrack Expansion v3.2 finally has the correct accoutrement on the Modification page as written by PowerPanda; grab it here if you haven't already as it's an amazing piece of work!  [4]  In case you prefer listening to your own tunes while playing Chrono Trigger, you can grab the No Music Patch by Readmit and Pseudoarc.  [5]  Last but not least (and long overdue), Reld's fork of Temporal Flux, 3.04 R1, has been made the recommended download on the Modification section for TF as well. Again, if you haven't already, swipe it here.

[PLUGINS and GUIDES]  Mauron has updated Warrior Workshop; grab it here. Mauron also made some fixes to Hi-Tech, the tech editor; grab it here.  [2]  TheMage has written an awesome field map tile editing guide; check it out here.  [3]  Mauron has made a available a spreadsheet indexing overworld graphic packets across the NA, JP, and Prerelease versions of the game; find it here.

[OCREMIX]  [ 'A Battle across Time' by jnWake, Gamer of the Winds, Ivan Hakštok, Lucas Guimaraes ][ Treasure Beyond Dreams' by AzureKevin ][ 'Tyrano's Stash' by Lucas Guimaraes, Brandon Harnish, Cory Johnson, ImAFutureGuitarHero, ThisIsJayC ][DWELLING OF DUELS][ 'Donkey! Bobonga!' by cacomistle, The Beauty of Grind ][ 'Yet Another Time's Scar Cover' by Cyril the Wolf ][ 'Goodnight, Dear Friends' by valence ][ 'Eh?!' by Triple B Music ][ 'Longing of the Wind' by Nemo, Michelle Dreyband ][ 'Tyrano's Stash' by Lucas Guimaraes, Cory Johnson, ImAFutureGuitarHero, Brandon Harnish, ThisIsJay ][ 'Chicken Sauce' by bjkmenu ][ 'Finding the Frozen Flame' by Ivan Hakštok ][ 'A Battle across Time' by jnWake, Ivan Hakštok, Lucas Guimaraes, GameroftheWinds ][ 'Chronossienne' by EndlessRepeat ][ 'Corridors of Time - Enhasa Theme' by Ian Martyn, TriacFox ][ '書っかでも着けどこ' by Ian Martyn ][ 'Gods? There Are None.' by Lucas Guimaraes ][ 'The Black Wind Howls at the Showdown with Magus' by The Rocket Knights, Travis Snowberger ][ 'The Revolution Will Be Dooted' by donut, lobby ]  [COMPENDIUM]  [ Arni Village Trigger Style by Maguzar ][ Radical Dreamers English Version 2.0 by Maguzar ][RESTORATIONS]  [ Corridors of Time by Jammin' Sam Miller ]

[FAN ART & FICTION]  [ Lucca and Robo by Ema ][ Zeal Ascendancy by KSera ][ Asocksual: Ayla - Frog - Frog 2 ]

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Chrono News / Re: Chrono Break (99%) confirmed to have been used for Final Fantasy Dimensions II

« on: December 10, 2023, 02:25:45 am »

Here's the Whisper transcription, if anyone else wants to parse it. It's very likely flawed, but got the job done enough to draw those conclusions:

ブレイク的なやつ いきなり
クロノブレイクの話を聞いて あの魔法師の.

いやもう一番気に入らない

トークテーマの一番 でもあるね

あーなるほどなるほど なるほど.

じゃあクロノブレイクについて ついて 言っちゃったからね

言っちゃったから話しましょう
これは多分ね全世界知らない話ですからね

知ってる人は知ってるんですか
知ってる人は知ってるんですか 勝てたとか知らないでしょ.

僕はあの中身っていうかどうなってたのかは全然知らなかったですね
なるほどなるほど え何知ってる はいあの商標で登録されてたこと.

あれでザワザワって.

このツケーニファン界隈ではザワザワして
ちょっと時瀬さんのインタビューで何度か あっそうね

言ってたもんね なるほど そちらで確認しました

で実はクロノ系をクロノブレイクっていうのを考えてた時期がありました
なるほど.

2000年ぐらいかな.

PS2の次ぐらいの世代 なるほど
クロノクロスが確か1999 8か9か 9です

9でしたっけ なるほど
でも2000年も越えてもうちょっとしたか2001年とかそれぐらいかもしれないですね なるほど.

思うにクロスを出したことで怒ったんじゃないかなって思った

結構切り込みましたね そういうこと言っちゃった
あれは成長続編じゃねえだろ 俺もクロノじゃねえぞ.

切れて俺のクロノはこれだっていうやつ
切れてないですよ いやー怪しいなそれは.

あれはでもパラレルワールドみたいな世界ですね はいはいはい

クロスですね
ブレイクはなんかじゃあ時がぶっ壊れる話とかだったらどうかなみたいな なるほど.

でちょっとプリプロやってたんですよ

プリプロっていうのは本開発する前の段階で
ちょっと企画を固めつつちょっとテスト版を作るぐらいまではやってたんですけど

結局いろいろちょっと人がこううまい具合に覚悟できなかったっていうのもあって.

殺さし仲間にシナリオをプロットみたいなの書いてたんですけど えー

で一応タイトルもその時がぶっ壊れるみたいな感じで
そういう風にして.

あのー醤油を取ってみよう取っておこうみたいな感じで取ったんですけど
それがだから兄ちゃんとかにこうガーって.

兄ちゃんでザワつかれて

相当でも当時ザワついてましたよね そうですね.

でしばらくそういう機会もなくて
でエニックスと合併してスクエニックスになったりとかっていう中で.

一応ファイナルファンタジーの先ほどのレジェンズ2.

時の水晶というのが

実はその時のプロットを元にして作ったお話で
なるほど そうなんですね.

じゃあ実際ジェイクは生きてたと.

あの違う形で 違う形で 日の目を見た なるほどなるほど

さっきのあの加藤さんのバテン怪盗じゃないですか

でもやっぱりそういうストックっていっぱいあるじゃないですか
その時できなくても

このコッシュは何かでやりたいなみたいなところが残ってると
意外にしぶとくこの業界で生きてるとまたやる機会がやってくる このタイミングならあれをやれる そうですね

で結構そういう期を待つとっていうのが あったりするので.

ここだっていうのでできたのがさっきのFFレジェンズ2 なるほど.

レジェンズ2をやるとブレイクの内容が味わえる
そうですねどういうことがクロノブレイクだったのかっていうのが

分かってもらえたので ぜひダウンロードしていただければ

ダウンロードしてください 今日の宣伝に.

6

Chrono News / Chrono Break (99%) confirmed to have been used for Final Fantasy Dimensions II

« on: December 10, 2023, 02:24:44 am »

Last year, I found a recently-abandoned Japanese Chrono site that archived links to Chrono series interviews. They had a link to this Another Eden interview with a note that Masato Kato discussed Chrono Break as part of it. Today, I was able to use OpenAI's Whisper tool to transcribe the Japanese, and sure enough, he talks about the game! By feeding the transcription into DeepL, it appears that:

• He started brainstorming ideas for a new Chrono game shortly after Cross's release around 2000, with the idea that it would be a PS2-era game.
• It really is intended to be titled "Break", not "Brake", as he was imagining a story about time literally breaking somehow (DeepL says, "And the title was something like, 'That's when it all goes to shit.'")
• Preproduction was in session around 2000/2001 (including the registration of the trademark).
• Final Fantasy Dimensions II ended up recycling the main scenario of the story!

We'd already found an interview from Takashi Tokita where he mentioned, as machine-translated, that certain story details were reused this way for FFD2. But this interview sounds much more definitive, and DeepL is suggesting that the main story idea itself became the basis for the game. We've tried put together a summary of FFD2's story at this thread, but there's just hardly information available in English. You can already draw parallels between Lavos and FFD2's "flare"-type weapon raining fire from the heavens.

What we really need now is someone who understands spoken Japanese to translate this interview snippet! We'll be in our eternal debt. Anyone who's also familiar with FFD2's plot is encouraged to add details and reply to that thread as well. If you know someone who might be able to translate, I've excerpted the relevant part of the interview here: Masato Kato Discusses Chrono Break. Pass that link on!

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The Great To-Do List / Re: [5000] Detailed plot summaries of Another Eden and Final Fantasy Dimensions II

« on: December 10, 2023, 01:53:14 am »

Just FYI, using a transcription AI, I've confirmed that Kato discusses Chrono Break in this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Q17vJ_bp4

• He was thinking of calling the third game Chrono Break, and started brainstorming ideas around 2000
• It really is "Break", not "Brake", as he was imagining it revolving around the breaking of time (DeepL says, "And the [idea] was something like, 'That's when it all goes to shit.'")
• Final Fantasy Legends 2 ended up recycling the story (!!!!!!!)

Now I'm absolutely itching for a better plot summary of Final Fantasy Dimensions II. We can draw some direct comparisons, I bet. Who would the four gods be that this Lavos-style weapon would steal cell cultures from?

Edit: Here's the segment in particular. It goes without saying that we really need someone who can understand spoken Japanese to listen and translate this for us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYGvtqvAUOE

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Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Chrono Cross Remaster Twitter Japanese Q&A

« on: December 07, 2023, 11:09:14 pm »

Got it. So it's just another Grandfather Paradox; Kid recognizes Serge before he even has a chance to save her at the orphanage. I'm going to create a plot inconsistencies page just for what came out of this interview.

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Chrono Cross Modification / Re: Looking for Weapon, Armor & Accessory Buy/Sell Price

« on: December 07, 2023, 04:27:01 pm »

Thanks a ton. Added (along with some other spare notes you left) to the encyclopedia.

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Chrono Compendium Discussion / Re: Database Error

« on: December 07, 2023, 01:45:03 pm »

Weird, yeah. I can see my sent messages. I have been getting random 502s, though. I'll still pass on to Ramsus.

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Chrono News / Re: Chrono Trigger HD-2D remake rumors

« on: December 07, 2023, 12:15:55 am »

What's the consensus on Super Mario RPG's soundtrack revamp? I don't think I kept a single tune from it. Somehow, they completely lost the rockabilly edge of "...And My Name Is Booster" with the choices. Between that and the Sonic Superstars debacle, it kind of leaves me worried, although I guess a CT remake would definitely feature Mitsuda coming back.

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Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Chrono Cross Remaster Twitter Japanese Q&A

« on: December 06, 2023, 11:55:30 pm »

-When the Kid first met Serge, he said something a little tricky when he heard his name, [did Kid remember that Serge saved him when he was a child?]

Kato: Yes.
Yes, he did. I don't think the Kid ever forgot. But Serge doesn't seem to know who he is, and he actually looks younger than he did that night, so I guess he's still trying to keep it all to himself for now.

I hunted through the forums, but I don't think anyone here suggested that Kid recognized Serge from the beginning. (When Zeality analyzed parts of the Ultimania with DeepL, he found a similiar claim.) Smacks of predestination though. The assumption on the timeline pages is that the orphanage sequence is a genuine tweak to history, not something that was supposed to have happened all along.

Yeah, this is horribly bizarre. Is he really insinuating that the Kid who saved Serge is the same Kid we meet in the normal course of the game? She behaves like someone who is completely unaware of any of the grand design going on, etc. (I don't want to call her a "rational actor" because she's a wild person in general, but she definitely does what she wants, without seeming to adhere to some overarching secret plan.) Tell me that's not what he means, right? There's no way Kid is keeping this all under wraps and being secretive with the party.

-After the last fight, Serge vaguely remembers the trip, but does he forget it afterwards? If he remembers, does Serge also continue to search for the Kid?

Kato:
I don't know. I think Serge's memories of the trip may fade little by little. That is why Kid is searching for Serge somewhere, wandering through many time lines. To meet again someday.

Another confirmation that it's supposed to be Kid searching for Serge. It being because he eventually forgot the adventure sounds new though.

How do you feel about the obvious problem here, now that you've read the other translated pieces? Namely—we know where Serge is; he's right there, living in Arni, in 1020 A.D., unless the Darkness Beyond Time spit him out hundreds of years in the future or past. The FMV shows her walking by that modern shop window with all the clocks, which...I guess could lend credence to Serge being returned to the wrong time period theory, but just what the fuck? How does one even begin searching for someone random like this? It's like a romantic idea that wasn't thought through, despite making it all the way to being rendered in the concluding scenes of the game...

-If Sarah's pendant was passed on to the Kingdom of Gardia from Sarah's hand, which was swallowed by the dimensional vortex, to the Kid, how did it get to the Kingdom of Gardia?

Kato:
There may have been another story where the Kid, Serge and others traveled back in time and crossed over to the continent before the collapse of Galdia .......

The Compendium's stance on this, as stated on the "Pendant Paradox" page, is that thanks to Time Traveler's Immunity and Time Bastard it doesn't matter whether it was a heirloom in the new timeline; Crono materializes with the pendant and the team's adventure goes on unhindered. Another reminder that the original creators may not have thought things out as much as fans do.

Agreed completely, which means Kato's implication is even worse, since we now have a Grandfather Paradox spanning both games, where the reconstituted party of Chrono Cross (trying to keep a straight face here) goes back in time to make sure the Kingdom of Guardia gets that heirloom. Ayla's head go boom. I can literally see Crono sitting in the producer room shaking his head in shame at this.

Seriously, these questions to Kato make me want to just disown Chrono Cross in the canon, especially if I were trying to do another sequel ROM hack. I wouldn't want to "redo" Chrono Cross or fix it, somehow. Just boot the fucking "d'aww interdimensional powerless Goddess trapped by dimension-eating Lavos" thing (which was never even established on solid footing—how Schala was pulled to the DBT was never explained), and just...I don't know. Make a new story. Suddenly, Crono eats Doritos and flies through time on the Epoch doesn't sound half bad. A Toriyama-esque happy-go-lucky Crono kicking ass on some new villains (completely DBZ-style) has to be better than a giant, romantic flourish with a totally broken plot and Gainax ending.

We can keep the ruined Leene Square, the cool "2400 A.D." Dead Sea dungeon, some version of Chronopolis...maybe invert CT in other ways, or expand on the concept of dreams. But Christ, expanding off the "Ideal Timeline" (which is anything but)...just jettison Cross completely. I'd even take an offshoot of Radical Dreamers, which at least had more coherence, even if it's still Schala fanfic.

I'll get the worst parts of this interview into an Article of some kind and write a mea culpa. Time for a radical shift in the site's unofficial stance. Kato literally pulled a Star Wars sequel trilogy over a decade in advance. "Let's kill/fuck over the original characters, make a really depressing future, and then explain none of it!"

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General Discussion / Re: The Tale of nightmare975's Old, Closed September 11 Thread

« on: December 06, 2023, 11:31:27 pm »

I'm still glad for the impromptu reunion we had. I pinged Radical_Dreamer about a couple new gourmet sodas I tried back in the summer, but I haven't heard back yet. Shame there's no mention/alert system here; I could try a private message.

I need to send something to Agent 12/Chrono'99. Hope they're doing all right. Going through that early member list really is something else. Ybrik Metaknight snuck in at some point in 2018. Aitrus hasn't been here since 2008. warmgun and GrayLensman still wear the mark of 2009. I will say, my own fan appreciation of the series has morphed as I've gotten older. Seeing some of the flippant answers on the Kato interview killed a big piece of my love for Chrono Cross; if he didn't take the worldbuilding or writing that seriously, why should we? And my taste in time travel's gone further into hard science fiction. But there is no other, and never will be another, like Chrono Trigger.

There's like 66 new albums/doujins I need to hunt for to get the site updated (added to VGMdb over 2023; some new, some older items that weren't previously indexed). It's such a pain, but I remind myself, when I first played Chrono Trigger, I would have absolutely fucking loved a site like this. The show must go on. We're also sort of a living museum, considering how rare an actual old-style fan site is these days. Starmen.net is still going, although their sidebar text is fucking unreadable on a modern PC. But the rest, as far as the eye can see, is made up of Fandom wikis with forced video content and unskippable ads. Fuck'em now and forever; we fly the Jolly Roger in this village.

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Chrono Compendium Discussion / Re: Database Error

« on: December 06, 2023, 11:22:41 pm »

Is this still occurring? 

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Characters, Plot, and Themes / Re: Deep dive on Robo, free will, and the nature of personal growth/change

« on: December 06, 2023, 11:20:33 pm »

I've similarly wondered, in a series that evokes a lot of "dream" imagery (where time traveling and fixing history is considered akin to realizing your dream/fulfilling the planet's dream)—can Robo "dream" this way? Does Robo have what it takes to dream his own Turnip up in another dimension? Does he meet the requirement for whatever consciousness and sentience it takes in the series to persist as a ghost (like Cyrus), or dream other life into existence?