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16
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Yasunori Mitsuda = another link between Final Fantasy XI and Chrono
« on: June 23, 2008, 07:05:48 pm »Quote
Not much was known at all about the score to Squaresoft's first online game other than that Nobou Uematsu would return; as well, Yasunori Mitsuda had been asked to contribute, as well. Unfortunately, as his schedule was busy with Xenosaga at the time, he was unable to do so.
This quote is from Liz Maas on http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff11/index.html . I wonder where she got this information from, but I assume she wouldn't have wrote this if she weren't sure it was true.
Anyway, it's intriguing. Masato Kato was the scenario writer for FFXI and there are apparently quite a few similarities between it and the Chrono series... I wonder how much more Chrono-esque the game could have been with Mitsuda on board.
Also I guess this is a concrete example of how it's difficult to have the members of Chrono development team all available at the same time to work on a common project. If Mitsuda couldn't work on FFXI because of Xenosaga, he couldn't have worked on a new Chrono game either.
17
Crimson Echoes / Well...
« on: June 08, 2008, 04:44:20 pm »
...it's been a long time, hasn't it? I guess some explanation is warranted for my long absence. I've been really busy with real life and family-related stuff since the start of the year. No one's dead or anything, but my focus was kind of diverted from the Internet. Also, I'm receiving a bachelor's degree (not sure if it's the correct term in English) this year so I was busy with school work and planifying what I'll do next year.
This being said, I'm sorry I didn't reply to PMs or posted some sort of note on the forum, concerning Crimson Echoes especially. I hope this didn't affect the progress of the project too much or something (apparently not, judging from the news on the main page). School will be over by middle June, but I got a mail from Vehek today and I thought I'd drop by early. Again, sorry about the disappearance.
This being said, I'm sorry I didn't reply to PMs or posted some sort of note on the forum, concerning Crimson Echoes especially. I hope this didn't affect the progress of the project too much or something (apparently not, judging from the news on the main page). School will be over by middle June, but I got a mail from Vehek today and I thought I'd drop by early. Again, sorry about the disappearance.
18
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Yasunori Mitsuda on Chrono Break: "There are a lot of politics involved"
« on: January 29, 2008, 08:13:18 am »
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3162780
Skip to page 4 for the Chrono-related stuff.
Skip to page 4 for the Chrono-related stuff.
19
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / CT:Resurrection alpha screenshots found
« on: January 13, 2008, 07:17:26 am »
http://fumufumu.q-games.com/archives/000316.php
I've never seen these screenshots before. Crono looks notably different than on the usual media.
I've never seen these screenshots before. Crono looks notably different than on the usual media.
20
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Takashi Tokita speaks on Chrono Trigger 2
« on: January 05, 2008, 07:10:04 am »
It's not recent; it was just some talk about Tokita's work on Chrono Trigger in a 2003 interview. He spoke about "Chrono Trigger 2" in the second part of the interview. Unfortunately, it's all in Japanese.
http://gameinfo.yahoo.co.jp/news/eg/20030715n01.html
http://game.goo.ne.jp/contents/news/NGN20030716exp03/index.html
I wish someone could translate that... Anyway, I hope Tokita does a bunch of American and European interviews for the release of the FFIV remake, like Tanaka did for the FFIII remake. He would surely be asked a few Chrono-related questions.
http://gameinfo.yahoo.co.jp/news/eg/20030715n01.html
http://game.goo.ne.jp/contents/news/NGN20030716exp03/index.html
I wish someone could translate that... Anyway, I hope Tokita does a bunch of American and European interviews for the release of the FFIV remake, like Tanaka did for the FFIII remake. He would surely be asked a few Chrono-related questions.
21
General Discussion / Final Fantasy IV sequel to be developed
« on: December 14, 2007, 01:26:49 pm »
The sequel will be titled Final Fantasy IV The After: Return to the Moon
Source
- You play as Theodore, Cecil's descendant (some sites claim he's his son, others say he's a descendant in the distant future)
- Set to be released by February 2008
- It's for mobile phone
Thoughts?
Source
- You play as Theodore, Cecil's descendant (some sites claim he's his son, others say he's a descendant in the distant future)
- Set to be released by February 2008
- It's for mobile phone
Thoughts?
22
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Chrono Break director: who could it be?
« on: December 12, 2007, 04:53:41 am »
Can Masato Kato really direct a new Chrono game for Square Enix, now that he's a free-lance scenario writer? It just occured to me that -- apart from really old games from the 80s programmed by young enthusiasts in the basement -- there isn't any game that has ever been directed by a free-lancer.
If I'm not mistaken, a director has to be an employee of the game's company, and Masato Kato notably isn't a Square Enix employee anymore. He's a free-lance scenario writer and hasn't directed a game since Chrono Cross. Perhaps the lack of a director is one of the reasons why a new Chrono game isn't made?
Then again, Yuji Horii has never directed a Dragon Quest game. He's always credited to as Scenario/Game Designer while someone else is the director, yet each DQ has the feel and spirit of Yuji Horii... So a Chrono game written by Kato and directed by someone else could probably still be faithful to the spirit of the series. So perhaps the "lack" of a director isn't actually what's hindering the development of a new Chrono...
Anyway, what do you think? Who would you like to be the director for "Chrono Break"? It would have to be someone from Square Enix, or perhaps from the Nintendo-owned Monolith Soft if they manage to make a collaboration (we can always dream...).
Personally, I would love to see Yasuyuki Honne direct the game: he was the main map/background artist of the Chrono series, and has experiences with game direction since he directed Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins. It's probably awfully unlikely, but it would be awesome. I guess a more realistic choice for Square Enix would be Takashi Tokita, Yoshinori Kitase, or even Akitoshi I-fill-all-the-free-ranks Kawazu. Hiromichi Tanaka would be okay, but he's more a producer than a director it seems (although he did design the battle systems of Seiken Densetsu 3, Xenogears, and Chrono Cross).
If I'm not mistaken, a director has to be an employee of the game's company, and Masato Kato notably isn't a Square Enix employee anymore. He's a free-lance scenario writer and hasn't directed a game since Chrono Cross. Perhaps the lack of a director is one of the reasons why a new Chrono game isn't made?
Then again, Yuji Horii has never directed a Dragon Quest game. He's always credited to as Scenario/Game Designer while someone else is the director, yet each DQ has the feel and spirit of Yuji Horii... So a Chrono game written by Kato and directed by someone else could probably still be faithful to the spirit of the series. So perhaps the "lack" of a director isn't actually what's hindering the development of a new Chrono...
Anyway, what do you think? Who would you like to be the director for "Chrono Break"? It would have to be someone from Square Enix, or perhaps from the Nintendo-owned Monolith Soft if they manage to make a collaboration (we can always dream...).
Personally, I would love to see Yasuyuki Honne direct the game: he was the main map/background artist of the Chrono series, and has experiences with game direction since he directed Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins. It's probably awfully unlikely, but it would be awesome. I guess a more realistic choice for Square Enix would be Takashi Tokita, Yoshinori Kitase, or even Akitoshi I-fill-all-the-free-ranks Kawazu. Hiromichi Tanaka would be okay, but he's more a producer than a director it seems (although he did design the battle systems of Seiken Densetsu 3, Xenogears, and Chrono Cross).
23
Crimson Echoes Plot Construction / Names for the Reptite Tiimeline locations
« on: December 08, 2007, 03:27:32 pm »
I suppose I could have used one of the old naming topics, but for clarity I'll start a new one. We need names for the locations of the Reptite Timeline. Note that since this concerns the newest part of the ROM, the positions of these locations on the overworld maps aren't even decided, especially in 1 A.D. since the whole overworld was changed. I have a few ideas but please discuss, oppose, propose, etc.
1/ The little mountain trail in which Marle wakes up (1 A.D.)
We could put this in Truce Canyon but that would be a lazy solution; players want novelty! I've currently put it in what would become Lucca's island, except it's linked to the continent. This is an unimportant location since it's just where the Gate is located, so we could go with a generic name like "Mountain Trail" or something, but my idea for a non-generic name is Astur Hill.
The Astures were a Celtic population that lived in Spain before the Roman conquered the area. The name doesn't mean anything special in the context of this game, but the cultures it alludes are coherent with what we created, I think: Cedric, although he has an Anglo-Saxon name, could allude to Rome through his founding of an Empire; and the "Spain" details subtly alludes to the Reptites, since we gave them Maya names and the Mayas were invaded by the Spanish. As an extra allusion, "Astur" sounds a bit like "Ashtear", Lucca's family name in CC, and that's why I put the location on her island.
2/ The Reptite Forest (1 A.D.)
This is Marle's dungeon before Terra Tower. The forest is a small maze like the one in Zelda 1 on NES. We could keep "Reptite Forest", but this was already used in Prehistory in CT. I tried to search for nifty Maya names to use, but I didn't find anything that sound good to English speakers. I propose Snaking Forest, a simple name, but it alludes to both to the Reptites and the maze aspect of the location.
3/ Robots (2302 A.D.)
We need a name for the base of the Reptite Robots. This is where Lucca and Robo arrive. It could be interesting to have a name for these Robot people too, although obviously a generic "Robots" could suffice.
4/ Reptite Factory (2302 A.D.)
A name either for the factory or the (unseen) city in which it's located in. A Maya name would be nice but good-soundind ones are hard to find. Maybe we could make Tohil the name of this city instead of that of the world for the Reptites (since the divergences with the human timeline have slightly lessened in the later plot outlines). Or maybe Xamolt since the Reptite time-travelers come from here and they're called "Xamoltan" (I can't find the exact original Maya reference though, what does this name mean?).
Of course, Dinopolis would be an obvious choice, but the differences between the CE Reptites (stained by the Frozen Flame) and the CC Dragonians are too large to warrant the name, I think.
5/ Mountain Trail in which Crono/Glenn/Magus wake up (1002 A.D.)
Could be the same location as Marle's mountain trail, or something else.
6/ Reptite Village (1002 A.D.)
This is the typically peaceful rural paradize... Like the Greek utopia of Arcady, but we probably can't use that name since it sounds too familiar for something Reptite. Any idea?
Now fire away.
1/ The little mountain trail in which Marle wakes up (1 A.D.)
We could put this in Truce Canyon but that would be a lazy solution; players want novelty! I've currently put it in what would become Lucca's island, except it's linked to the continent. This is an unimportant location since it's just where the Gate is located, so we could go with a generic name like "Mountain Trail" or something, but my idea for a non-generic name is Astur Hill.
The Astures were a Celtic population that lived in Spain before the Roman conquered the area. The name doesn't mean anything special in the context of this game, but the cultures it alludes are coherent with what we created, I think: Cedric, although he has an Anglo-Saxon name, could allude to Rome through his founding of an Empire; and the "Spain" details subtly alludes to the Reptites, since we gave them Maya names and the Mayas were invaded by the Spanish. As an extra allusion, "Astur" sounds a bit like "Ashtear", Lucca's family name in CC, and that's why I put the location on her island.
2/ The Reptite Forest (1 A.D.)
This is Marle's dungeon before Terra Tower. The forest is a small maze like the one in Zelda 1 on NES. We could keep "Reptite Forest", but this was already used in Prehistory in CT. I tried to search for nifty Maya names to use, but I didn't find anything that sound good to English speakers. I propose Snaking Forest, a simple name, but it alludes to both to the Reptites and the maze aspect of the location.
3/ Robots (2302 A.D.)
We need a name for the base of the Reptite Robots. This is where Lucca and Robo arrive. It could be interesting to have a name for these Robot people too, although obviously a generic "Robots" could suffice.
4/ Reptite Factory (2302 A.D.)
A name either for the factory or the (unseen) city in which it's located in. A Maya name would be nice but good-soundind ones are hard to find. Maybe we could make Tohil the name of this city instead of that of the world for the Reptites (since the divergences with the human timeline have slightly lessened in the later plot outlines). Or maybe Xamolt since the Reptite time-travelers come from here and they're called "Xamoltan" (I can't find the exact original Maya reference though, what does this name mean?).
Of course, Dinopolis would be an obvious choice, but the differences between the CE Reptites (stained by the Frozen Flame) and the CC Dragonians are too large to warrant the name, I think.
5/ Mountain Trail in which Crono/Glenn/Magus wake up (1002 A.D.)
Could be the same location as Marle's mountain trail, or something else.
6/ Reptite Village (1002 A.D.)
This is the typically peaceful rural paradize... Like the Greek utopia of Arcady, but we probably can't use that name since it sounds too familiar for something Reptite. Any idea?
Now fire away.
24
Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile / Christmas release?
« on: December 04, 2007, 06:44:51 pm »
Prophet's Guile is unique in the Chrono community as it might be the only fanproject to have been abandoned not because of a lack of progress, but because it was decided to divert the existing momentum to another project (diverted back to Crimson Echoes). Still, Prophet's Guile is nearly completed; it's physically playable from the beginning up to the ending, with the only incomplete parts being the dialogues, the battle setups and perhaps *one* or two instances of graphic hacking.
With Christmas approaching, does anyone think (first, is anyone there?) that we could launch one last sprint and complete what remains to be completed, to finally release the game on December 25, or even December 31? This could be an awesome success, not just because it would be one of the rare completed projects, but because it involves the "Three Wise Men" Belthasar, Gaspar, and Melchior... something definitely appropriate for Christmas.
With Christmas approaching, does anyone think (first, is anyone there?) that we could launch one last sprint and complete what remains to be completed, to finally release the game on December 25, or even December 31? This could be an awesome success, not just because it would be one of the rare completed projects, but because it involves the "Three Wise Men" Belthasar, Gaspar, and Melchior... something definitely appropriate for Christmas.
25
Reality, Real-World Connections, and the Supernatural / Porre = Venice?
« on: October 29, 2007, 07:30:09 am »
Porre's flag depicts a simple winged lion, although with a snake instead of a tail. I don't think there's a specific mythological name for this creature... A Gryphon has an eagle head instead of a lion head, and a Chimera has both a lion head and a goat head, and has no wings (I think?).
Could this flag be a reference to the flag of the former Republic of Venice?
The Winged Lion was the symbol of Mark the Evangelist, the patron of Venice. The differences with Porre's lion is that he is golden, has a halo behind the head, a Bible in the right paw, and a normal tail instead of a snake. But perhaps Masato Kato took the flag and stripped it of its Christian symbols?
Venice used to have a powerful army and navy, and its possessions included several territories and Mediterranean islands, not just the main city of Venice, kind of like Porre. An interesting related state was the Duchy of the Archipelago, a maritime territory (in Greece) that was independant but created by Venetian interests. Sounds like the archipelago of El Nido, no?
However, can someone check the Porre statue in Home Termina in CC? There's a thumbnail on the site but it's too small and cropped. There seems to be something near the lion's head, but I can't tell whether it's a second head or something in the background. Please look at the tail too.
26
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Mitsuda to compose for Monolith Soft; Crono's return (okay, not really)
« on: October 14, 2007, 09:23:48 am »
http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q4-2007/101007e.html
Monolith Soft has recently announced its new project, a Nintendo DS game titled Soma Bringer. Little is known about it currently, except that it seems to be some kind of strategy RPG and Yasunori Mitsuda will compose the music of the game.
Additionally, one of the character looks a bit like Crono (see second screenshot on this page); another character may look a bit like Magus (first screenshot on the page, but the sprite is too small for us to tell for sure); and the 6 Elements featured on the status screen seem to match the 6 Chrono Cross Elements. It's all coincidental and/or not meaningful, so yeah, this still does nothing for the Chrono series, but this is kinda interesting.
EDIT: More here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198789
The characters are a bit childish, but the overall art style is refreshing.
Monolith Soft has recently announced its new project, a Nintendo DS game titled Soma Bringer. Little is known about it currently, except that it seems to be some kind of strategy RPG and Yasunori Mitsuda will compose the music of the game.
Additionally, one of the character looks a bit like Crono (see second screenshot on this page); another character may look a bit like Magus (first screenshot on the page, but the sprite is too small for us to tell for sure); and the 6 Elements featured on the status screen seem to match the 6 Chrono Cross Elements. It's all coincidental and/or not meaningful, so yeah, this still does nothing for the Chrono series, but this is kinda interesting.
EDIT: More here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198789
The characters are a bit childish, but the overall art style is refreshing.
27
Crimson Echoes / Where's the latest ROM?
« on: October 14, 2007, 07:35:16 am »
Just in case someone wants to do something, where's the latest (well, least old) ROM patch?
28
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Chrono Cross: the 'Xenogears Disc 2' syndrome?
« on: September 21, 2007, 03:14:16 pm »
As we know, there is about Chrono Cross a whole important chunk of the Arbiter backstory that didn't make it into the final version of the game, at least according to the Ultimania Guide. The Guide gives no reason for why this Arbiter backstory didn't make it. In any case, I suppose that if it had been included into the game, it would have been revealed near the end of the game rather than early.
Some people claim that the quality of the game's plot dwindle a bit near the end. They claim for instance that while the Dragon God cutscene at Chronopolis is good, what follows it is anti-climactic as the pace of the game suddenly drops (Terra Tower = dull dungeon; stuff with the Chrono Cross key item = not explicite enough).
Incidentally, Terra Tower is one of the rare place in which the Arbiter lost backstory seems to be hinted at, with Belthasar's comment about the Arbiter binding with the Time Devourer.
And after beating Terra Tower, the only thing the party has to do to complete the game is to go to Opassa Beach, where the ghost children dump them what remains to be explained in the plot, and there's the fight against the Time Devourer and that's the end.
Thus, we know for a fact (well, an Ultimania fact, for what it's worth) that there's a part of the plot that the developers designed but did not incorporate into the game. We also know that the ghost children at Opassa basically serve as plot-dumpers for what hasn't been explained during the rest of the game.
Could it be that the developers were running out of time or fund after the Chronopolis events? They would have been forced to rush things, making a dull dungeon for Terra Tower, perhaps even scrapping a Playable Character imprisoned in it, and resorting to placing long, literary explanations of the plot's backstory at Opassa instead of making the player learn the plot naturally through other dungeons and scenes and events. They would even have cut the Arbiter backstory short because this may have been too much to explain at Opassa for the ghost children to talk and the player to digest.
Basically: the same thing that supposedly happened to Xenogears for the events of its second disc. In Xenogears' case, the plot dumps are all along the disc with the characters sitting on chairs and narrating the game, instead of ghost children standing on a beach narrating the past. The developers never admitted it for Xenogears though, so we may never know for sure for either game. But what's your opinion? Could it be possible that there were intended to be more events after Chronopolis, or at least a better presentation of things?
Some people claim that the quality of the game's plot dwindle a bit near the end. They claim for instance that while the Dragon God cutscene at Chronopolis is good, what follows it is anti-climactic as the pace of the game suddenly drops (Terra Tower = dull dungeon; stuff with the Chrono Cross key item = not explicite enough).
Incidentally, Terra Tower is one of the rare place in which the Arbiter lost backstory seems to be hinted at, with Belthasar's comment about the Arbiter binding with the Time Devourer.
And after beating Terra Tower, the only thing the party has to do to complete the game is to go to Opassa Beach, where the ghost children dump them what remains to be explained in the plot, and there's the fight against the Time Devourer and that's the end.
Thus, we know for a fact (well, an Ultimania fact, for what it's worth) that there's a part of the plot that the developers designed but did not incorporate into the game. We also know that the ghost children at Opassa basically serve as plot-dumpers for what hasn't been explained during the rest of the game.
Could it be that the developers were running out of time or fund after the Chronopolis events? They would have been forced to rush things, making a dull dungeon for Terra Tower, perhaps even scrapping a Playable Character imprisoned in it, and resorting to placing long, literary explanations of the plot's backstory at Opassa instead of making the player learn the plot naturally through other dungeons and scenes and events. They would even have cut the Arbiter backstory short because this may have been too much to explain at Opassa for the ghost children to talk and the player to digest.
Basically: the same thing that supposedly happened to Xenogears for the events of its second disc. In Xenogears' case, the plot dumps are all along the disc with the characters sitting on chairs and narrating the game, instead of ghost children standing on a beach narrating the past. The developers never admitted it for Xenogears though, so we may never know for sure for either game. But what's your opinion? Could it be possible that there were intended to be more events after Chronopolis, or at least a better presentation of things?
29
Time, Space, and Dimensions / Lavos and Guardian (boss) paradox?
« on: September 19, 2007, 07:05:31 pm »
This question is short and straightforward but I don't think it has been asked and answered yet. Maybe I'm forgetting some simple detail that explains it... I don't know. Here's the question: how can Lavos copy Guardian's battle mode (you know, the robot boss from Arris Dome), and the Lavos Core time-warp to the ruined future, even though the Apocalypse didn't happen yet when the party fights him? How does this work with the Compendium's "Flow Principle"?
30
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Time Crash sighting in Children of Mana [FF8 Spoilers]
« on: July 12, 2007, 11:52:56 am »
I've stumbled upon some Children of Mana stuff while trying to search for information about Kato, and I was intrigued by the plot of the game so I checked a walkthrough on GameFAQs. There are some particularly intriguing parts:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/925586/45392
Additionally, there is a place called "The Cosmic Rift".
Thus, my question is: has someone played Children of Mana here and can tell us more about this plot device that Kato apparently rehashed from Chrono Cross?
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/925586/45392
Quote
The Mana Lord then explains that this is the Sanctuary of Mana on Illusia in
several thousand years to come. Your character doesn't understand, neither does
Tess. He explains that in the current chaotic state, Mana distorts time and
space, drawing Illusia's future to the present. He then rants on about how
destruction is what is to become of everything... although some things return.
Quote
"Space-Time Distortion"
The surging mana has torn time from space bringing forth the future. A thousand
years from now the tree will wither and the sanctuary will fall. But the future
is not yet set. You may yet escape by changing your path.
Additionally, there is a place called "The Cosmic Rift".
Thus, my question is: has someone played Children of Mana here and can tell us more about this plot device that Kato apparently rehashed from Chrono Cross?