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Topics - Chrono'99

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31
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Final Fantasy XI crosses time
« on: July 12, 2007, 11:38:02 am »
After weeks of rumours and intriguing screenshots, Hiromichi Tanaka confirms that time travel will be available in the new FFXI expansion, titled Wings of the Goddess. Players will be able to travel back and forth between Vana'diel and Vana'diel 20 years before the present:

http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q3-2007/071107c.html

(For those who might still not be aware, FFXI is developed by the part of the Chrono Trigger/Cross team which didn't migrate to Monolith Soft.)

Thoughts?

32
General Discussion / Letrimh's Corridors of Time resurface
« on: May 10, 2007, 05:32:12 pm »
Not sure since when it resurfaced, but it's there:

http://www.cot.drackir.com/

33
Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile / I quit
« on: April 30, 2007, 04:48:21 pm »
Soon, I'll quit soon. I can't stand imagining that Crisis is on its way to becoming the unique "unofficially official" fourth Chrono game. I'm going to finish coding Mt Woe and then I'll go back to work on Crimson Echoes directly, before the end of Prophet's Guile's development. After that point, Prophet's Guile will or will not get finished; in any case, it won't get finished by me. Crimson Echoes has been time-crashed for too long. I'm certainly not blaming anything or anyone for the slump in both projects, but something simply has to be done for CE. If only one project out of the two has to be completed, it might as well be CE.

As for corruption issues: make a copy of the ROM in Windows everytime that you save TF. Everytime. This is the safest solution.

34
Quote from: Hironobu Sakaguchi
When creating Blue Dragon, Dragon Quest wasn't on my mind. I was actually thinking about Chrono Trigger and Blue Dragon is an extension of that game.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153012

Personally, I think his vision of Chrono Trigger is a bit limited... Then again, he said "Chrono Trigger", not "Chrono".

35
Characters, Plot, and Themes / Sprigg confirmed to be a Mystic?
« on: April 24, 2007, 03:13:18 pm »
Characters are grouped under several categories in the artbook Missing Piece. The book is in Japanese, but is filled with headers written in English. One of the character categories is "Demi-Human", while another one is "Demon & Fairy". The latter category contains two characters: Sprigg and Razzly. It's normal that Razzly isn't included in "Demi-Human", since fairies are born from trees according to one of them in the Water Dragon Isle... but what about Sprigg? According to Missing Piece, she's not a Demi-Human but a "Demon."

Incidentally, the Chrono Trigger Retranslation has revealed that the Mystics were called Mazoku, i.e. Demons, in the Japanese version of the first game. If we are to trust the English wording in Missing Piece, then Sprigg is definitely a Mystic. This would make my theory about the Magic Guild having originally been a group created by Magil more likely.

What remains to be done is to check the Japanese term for "Demon" in Missing Piece and see if it's the same word as CT's Mazoku. I've attached the scans of the relevant pages.

[attachment deleted by admin]

36
Yes, we all want a new Chrono game, and there's no question of making it without Kato on story and Mitsuda on music. But what about the character design? In your opinion, should it be Akira Toriyama or Nobuteru Yuuki again? or another famous manga artist? or to hell with the mangaka and let's bring in Yoshitaka Amano or Tetsuya Nomura? (j/k lol, imagine Magus with chains and zippers...)

Personally, I'm having a hard time choosing. I really like Nobuteru Yuuki, and I know he's capable of even greater designs than what he did in Chrono Cross (his works on The Record of Lodoss War, Weathering Continent, and Phantasien are pure art). Even so, I think maybe a new artist should design Chrono Break, since originality and the total absence of rehashing are what the Chrono series is known for.

37
I wasn't sure where to post this since it's a little more than one year old (December 2005), but here's Yuuji Horii's opinion on a Chrono sequel:


http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3146024

1UP: A lot of fans are still asking for a proper sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was a game you worked on. Would you ever want to work on a sequel? Or would you ever want to see a sequel?

YH: Since everything I would like to do can be done in a Dragon Quest title, the chances of me making a sequel to Chrono Trigger are unlikely. Although as long as the title is interesting I'd definitely love to check it out and play it, even if it's not Chrono Trigger.

38
Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile / Bug Topic
« on: February 13, 2007, 05:36:31 pm »
Only 2 bugs so far. (Amazingly enough,) the ROM corrupted only once since I started coding it, and I'm pretty sure it was because I copy-pasted some commands. I never copy-paste anything now. Maybe it wasn't even corruption, but a black frozen screen in any case.

I think the problem with CE is not that we corrupt things, but that there was already a corrupted thingy lurking in the 2-year-old ROM and we just couldn't get rid of it even with exports. Anyway, I make tons of backups for Prophet's Guile and I simply restored the good ROM, so there's no problem.

As for the bugs:

Magus Castle

When the portal opens, Crono's party is "teleported" to the center of the screen and Magus to the top-right corner of the screen. I checked the commands and it seems that for some reason, it's due to the fact that there's no battle. If there's a battle, the characters will be correctly placed when the mode-7 portal opens. If there's no battle, they get displaced. I don't think there's a solution to this bug since we can't really have a Magus vs. party battle (or can we? ...no, probably too much bothersome to hack).

Skyways

In every Skyway overworld sequence, 3 characters are shown instead of just Magus (Frog and Marle I think). We probably just have to delete some commands in the Overworld Events, but I don't know which.

If anyone has some solutions for those bugs, you know what to do...

39
Site Updates / Tanaka Interview #2 Full Transcript
« on: February 10, 2007, 07:30:52 pm »
As stated in a recent piece of news, Cubed3 has interviewed Hiromichi Tanaka, Chrono Cross's producer. Cubed3 has now put the full transcript online. Tanaka elaborated on the difficulty of making a new Chrono game or a Chrono Trigger port on the Wii Virtual Console...

[hidden=Here is the part of the interview concerning the Chrono series]

AR: *Ahem* Recently Chrono Cross was mentioned in an interview with you and you stated there would not be a sequel to Chrono Cross because it would be too difficult to get the original team together again…? Does this rule out any possibility for the Chrono series in the future at all? Because Nintendo fans are always asking about a Chrono Trigger remake…

HT: There’s still a possibility, but since the main director is not working for Square Enix now – he’s working on other titles in a different company, Namco Bandai, it’s a bit difficult to ask him to come back and be the head of a team again. And also, Kato-san is working on the fourth game in the Mana series. So there’s still a possibility that he might think he might want to make it again…

AR: It seems to be…the Chrono series seems to have a huge following across the Internet. People are always asking about Chrono Trigger, maybe it will appear on the Virtual Console for the Wii…?

HT: It’s a 50-50 possibility – we’re not sure yet. It contains a really difficult problem of copyright issues, such as Akira Toriyama’s artwork. We’re discussing with Nintendo, but haven’t really come to any conclusion.

[/hidden]

40
Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile / The... Change Log!
« on: February 09, 2007, 07:23:17 pm »
Changed Locations/Events (custom maps are in blue):

{000} Load Screen
{1B1} Title Screen
{013} Serge's Diary
{119} Custom Title Screen
{0AC} Castle Magus Inner Sanctum

{15F} Dark Ages Portal
{0F4} Dark Ages Portal Exterior (when Magus puts his hood on)
{182} Algetty Entrance
{151} Skyway leading to Enhasa

{161} Land Bridge leading back to Portal
{152} Enhasa Exterior (for the Janus/Gaspar/Lasher cutscene)
{163} Enhasa
{150} Land Bridge leading towards Kajar (expanded to show a crowd)

{162} Skyway leading back to Enhasa
{164} Skyway leading to Kajar

{16A} Blackbird Scaffolding
{165} Kajar
{0A3} Zeal Teleporter Exterior
{191} Zeal Palace
{149} Zeal Palace Regal Hall
{14C} Zeal Palace Zeal Throneroom
{167} Kajar Belthasar's Private Study

{100} Beast's Nest A
{103} Beast's Nest B

{113} Ioka Chief's Hut
{11B} Zeal Palace Dark Wing
{1DC} Ozzie Flashback
{1DD} Janus in Ocean Palace Flashback (borrows the same map as {197}

{11A} Queen Zeal's Bedroom
{188} Mt. Woe A
{189} Mt. Woe B
{18D} Mt. Woe Summit

{10F} Special Purpose Area
{124} Laruba Ruins

{1E1} Cerulean Lake
{1ED} Cerulean Lake Vista
{14B} Zeal Palace Hall of the Mammon Machine

{12D} Tyrano Lair Keep
{194} Ocean Palace Entrance
{195} Ocean Palace Piazza
{196} Ocean Palace Side Rooms
{197} Ocean Palace Breached Corridor
{198} Ocean Palace Breached Save Point
{1D7} Ocean Palace Breached Room

{1D6} Enhasa (set like it is in CT for the ending sequence)
{015} Credits
{0EF} Zeal Palace Zeal Throneroom (ending)
{016} Credits
{0EE} Magus Castle Forest (ending)
{017} Credits
{0ED} Zeal Palace Hallway (ending)
{018} Credits
{16B} Blackbird Left Wing (ending)
{019} Credits
{1D3} Ocean Palace Time Freeze (ending)
{01A} Credits
{17E} Algetty Elder's Grotto (ending)
{01C} Credits
{1AC} North Cape (ending)
{01D} Credits
{1AD} Magus enters a portal (ending)
{01E} Credits
{004} Lucca's Workshop (ending)
{014} Serge's Diary (ending)
{01B} Ending art
{01F} The End
{0D6} Developer's Room

Memory Addresses:

Storyline Counter
=0 Beast's area is absent
=1 Beast's area appears
=2 A light appears at Cerulean Lake (visual clue)

7f005b
=01 Magus wakes up
=02 Magus arrives in Zeal
=03 Crowd blocks the Kajar Land Bridge
=04 Saw Janus/Gaspar/Lasher cutscene, access granted to the Kajar Land Bridge
=05 Belthasar's Secret Room cutscene
=06 Must fight a Beast
=07 Saw Belthasar at Land Bridge
=08 Killed Beast
=09 Access granted to the Zeal Palace Dark Wing
=0A Ozzie/Janus in OP flashbacks
=0B Zeal and Melchior quarrel
=0C Mt. Woe mission
=0D Schala at Mt. Woe's exit / must go to Cerulean Lake
=0E Hall of the Mammon Machine cutscene
=0F Must meet Dalton in the Mammon Machine hall
=10 Access to the Ocean Palace
=11 Ending sequence...

7f005e
Bit1 Magus sees Algetty Entrance (optional)
Bit2 Magus enters Enhasa's Skyway
Bit8 Lasher at Beast's Nest Entrance
Bit4 Tyrano & Azala cutscene

7f005c
Bit1,2,4 if the three bits are set, Janus/Gaspar/Lasher cutscene takes place
Bit8 Magus deduces that the Mammon Machine is close to activation

7f0060
Bit1 used to fix the Belthasar Skyway bug

7f0061
Used to control Melchior in Mt. Woe

7f0062
Climbing in Mt. Woe A

7f0063
Number of hits Melchior received (3=game over)

7f0064
"Previous location" placeholder for Mt. Woe screens

7f0066
Bit 1,2,4 check that you've got the 3 Oboli
Bit 8 return to The End after the Developer's Room

7f00e0
Ending sequence variable

7f03fc
7f03fe
Non-permanent flags for on/off switches

41
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / The "original" Scars of Time...
« on: February 03, 2007, 12:10:40 pm »
An agent of the Norwegian-Sami singer Mari Boine has noticed the heavy similarities between Mitsuda's theme Scars of Time and Boine's song Gilvve Gollat ("Sow your Gold"). He started a topic on CocoeBiz's forums with a short clip of the song so people can compare, and he's right! The intro of both themes are definitely similar. Gilvve Gollat was released in 1994 and we all know Mitsuda is a great fan of ethnic and world music. It's anyone's guess whether Mitsuda "plagiarized" the theme or whether he was just "inspired" by it. The songs differ from each other after the intro in any case.

http://www.cocoebiz.com/forums/showthread.php?t=629

42
Site Updates / The Truth revealed: what is really delaying Chrono Break
« on: December 17, 2006, 06:32:28 pm »
Check this interview conducted with the Chrono Cross team (the intro and the last question on page 3, mainly):

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/402/402807p1.html

So, that's it...

Zealnote: It is made in 2003, which is sad. But still, Masato Kato wasn't even with SE again at that point, so things might be getting better. If Chrono Trigger performs well on the Virtual Console, it'll look great, so be sure to order CT when it is available.

43
Is it actually stated somewhere in the game why the Reptites survived in this dimension? We take for granted that it is because Lavos didn't fall, but is this really stated somewhere?

This question is important, because this could have some repercussions on... Leah's purpose, if you see where I'm getting at.

44
Let's get straight to the point: Lavos did NOT guide the evolution of the planet's living beings. He just slept in the planet's core and somehow absorbed energy and DNA, but he did not actually change the course of evolution (apart from killing the Reptites). The only quote, in the entire series, that suggests Lavos manipulated evolution is this one from CT:

Quote
Magus: ......

   So...since the dawn of time, it has
   slept underground, controlling
   evolution on this world for his own
   purpose...

...BUT, as already mentioned somewhere, it's actually a mistranslation. According to Kwhazit, the original quote in the Japanese version was:

Quote
Magus: .......
Since the ancient era, it has slept underground and gone on making the evolution of all life on this planet its own......?

This quote, and the other pieces of info in CT and CC, claim that Lavos passively absorbed the planet's energy/DNA. It is never stated anywhere that he actively manipulated evolution (check the script and see for yourself!). The only time he actually altered a species is when the early humans got in contact with the Frozen Flame.

So, well, "Lavos didn't control evolution" and there's this mistake in the encyclopedia (in the actual "Compendium canon" :o !), that's the main point of my post.

My second point is the potentially immediate consequence: if Lavos doesn't normally evolve species, why did his Frozen Flame evolve the early humans? Could this "contamination" (that's the word used) have been an accident opposed to Lavos's plan? Ultimately, does this mean that the creation of the Frozen Flame itself was accidental, and not wanted by Lavos?

45
Crimson Echoes Plot Construction / gasp...Plot revision?
« on: October 05, 2006, 03:16:17 pm »
I just hope I'm not speaking a taboo or something. I know that quite a lot has already been coded, but I really think some things need to be better presented plotwise. The first chapters can be quite difficult to understand at once (all the comes and gos between Guardia/Porre and Chronopolis...), and some points feel a bit unnatural or actually Deus Ex Machina. That's why I decided to present this modified plot outline. I spent quite some time on it, I wanted to improve some parts, not to "take over" the plot and randomly change everything, so the things I'd like to change all come with an explanation or some reasonings based on canon and not (necessarily) my personal tastes.

Codingwise, it's more about swapping some mems or replacing some texts than actually recoding entire parts, so I hope it's okay on this side... I could even do it myself while Jsondag would continue coding the rest of the game, because (totally incidentally) my plot revision goes up to the Reptite timeline, up to where we are at the coding. Well, at least for now.

Please read it and give your advice everyone (and Zeality, especially). Also, I guess some things are still to be discussed (like the fate of the Porre cyborg? he seems to have simply vanished), relative to what's after the Reptite timeline introduction.

Well, take a seat and let's go...

Prologue

Before 1002, King Zeal contacted and guided Porre, he's the (only) reason why Porre goes military. Also, can we scrap the fetch quest? it was good for the demo, but it's too long for a full game, the prologue needs to be short and fast-paced.

  • 1002 - The Porre cyborg program releases its first candidate, and sends him on a test run to assassinate the Chancellor. Ingrus doesn't die but is just incapacitated by Crono and given to a guard. Lucca's prototype Time Egg backfires, sending the party to Chronopolis.

Chapter One: Legacy of the Enlightened

I believe this part shouldn't be set in 11,998 BC, because Magus being captured and immediatly saved is rather coincidental, it's a Deus Ex Machina situation that could be avoided by setting the chapter in 11,999 BC instead. Since the rest of the game era should still be in 11998, we just have to activate the memory flag that show "???" as the era (for the world map box and the saving screen), and mentions the year in dialogue.

  • 11999 (one year after CT) - Due to fatigue accumulated after an entire year of doing nothing but searching Schala (no sleep, no food, no drink... well, just a little I guess), Magus faints. He basically let himself die for a year.
  • 11999 - Dalton continues searching for power and immortality. The Elder is hurt but not dead (Sargon can heal him). Magus shadows Dalton but is still weak and is defeated, because Dalton has found some Zealian artifact in Beast Forest. Emphasis is put on the fact that Magus is much weaker than he should be. Magus is jailed.

Chapter Two: Double Trouble

Chronopolis must be a location kept hidden by Belthasar from the outside world: it's funded by no governement. My reasoning is that in CC, time travel was never achieved by Chronopolis, but in CT:CE the place already has Dispatch Chamber, Temporal Catch, KRS device, etc. Governments would be tempted to do crazy things with Belthasar's time travel technology if they were aware of it... so they're not. Belthasar is capable of building the thing alone with only a few trustful colleagues (he did build Keeper's Dome alone in CT).

The Time Dispatch Chamber can send people in any year (not day). However, the Temporal Catch can only bring those people back if it can focus on a time Gate that already exists. Thus, Belthasar could send the party anywhere in time, but he just couldn't bring them back, so they will only work with "Entity eras" (CT eras +2 years).

  • 2302 - Belthasar greets Crono and friends. The Porre agent uses the Gate created at Denadoro to follow them to the future (using a Gate Key given by King Zeal). The Gate is not permanent but still lasts enough time to allow that.
  • 2302 - CML actually see the agent downloading information and entering the TDC. CML try to capture him and enter the TDC; they all travel back to 1002 at the same time (if the agent traveled first and the party later, there would be a paradox similar to the Telepod one in CT).
  • 1002 (normal date, not 2 days before) - CML and the agent fight; the agent escapes with his super-speed again.
  • 1002 - The agent gives Porre an engine for the Chimera tank. Porre attacks Guardia, CML fight off the invasion and go back to Chronopolis. They use the Denadoro Gate (yes, still there), because gaining the Epoch so early and having access to all the eras is kind of spoiling.
  • 2302 - King Zeal releases Zealots in Chronopolis to test it; CML defeat them as well.

Chapter Three: Beneath the Azure Sea

The "Let's regroup the old party" plot device has been reported as a bit unnatural in the feedback thread. I think the guy makes a very valid point: that the characters join for no true reason, almost like the CC characters (Mamacha...). If we can just swap a few sequences, I think this plot device could be better justified.

  • 2302 - Belthasar says the invaders were from the same type as the Ocean Palace ones. He sends the party to 11,998 BC (on the land!) to investigate. They have to find a way to explore the ocean floor alone though. Fortunately, they find Magus and release him. He can easily teleport them inside the OP ruins. As you can see, the change is that Belthasar didn't know about Magus's whereabouts (no Temporal Catch, no PD, no crystal ball, so history books should be his only source of historical infos, or he'd know about King Zeal's whereabouts else).
  • 11998 - The party finds Schala and King Zeal. Magus is quite confused to find his sister now even though he had already visited the OP about a year ago. King Zeal actually just ressurected her, and took the Masamune too (!); he escapes. Yes, this "past" Masamune can time travel, for the same reason that Kid's pendant can (according to this link anyway).

Chapter Four: Murmurs of Red

I came to think about a version of this chapter quite different than the current one... but it's more about adding texts and a few tweaks than recoding everything, so I hope it's feasible.

King Zeal's theft of the Masamune can hopefully give a reason for Glenn to rejoin the heroes... In 2,302 AD, the party discusses about the Masamune's disappearance and concludes that it must have changed the events of the Mystic War. Since Belthasar isn't a time traveler, the "original" events never happened for him, he tells the party the history according to "his" timeline: things played out mostly the same way in the early years of the war, except Cyrus was just a talented soldier, not "the legendary Hero", and Frog never returned to the kingdom. Chivalry and knighthood is also less prevalent. Without Frog's wise counsels and without the link to the honor code that the Masamune represents, the Guardians continued the war in 600 AD even after Magus's disappearance. The Mystics, forced to keep on fighting, were reunited by Serran. The party then realizes that the original Glenn (the time traveler) must find himself in a strange world... so Belthasar sends them to 602 AD to meet him.

  • 602 - Glenn tells the party he's ohh so glad they finally came to visit him... He founded the Vanguard to try to restor honor but it's not enough. He tells them about a great battle which is going to take place in the Dorino Plains, and goes with Crono to settle things.
  • 602 - Glenn meets and tries to fight Serran, who flees.
  • 602 - Glenn settles the conflict and travels to Chronopolis.
  • 602 - King Zeal immediately takes interest in Serran and brings him to the Pocket Dimension.

Chapter Five: Return to Prodigiousness

This chapter, whether in this version of the plot or the original version, needs to better flow with the rest. I think I may have a good "reason" for it to fit and exist: with all the activity and tensions that the Chronopolis complex suffered, the Dreamstone shard is starting to get totally deprived of sufficient energy. Belthasar decides he needs a better shard, something more reliable (not just another Dreamstone). Thus:

  • 2302 - Belthasar notes that he needs information in Zeal (concerning Dreamstone, Frozen Flame, and other interesting rocks). He tells the party that he won't be able to bring them back to Chronopolis directly (there's no Gate in 12,000 BC "anymore"), so they'll have to find Gaspar's Time Egg also and break it to create a temporary Gate for the Temporal Catch to focus on.
  • 2302 - Belthasar additionally wants to see if King Zeal has been at Zeal. Belthasar doesn't know this for the same reason that he didn't know where Magus was.
  • 12000 - Crono recovers the data and the Time Egg and avoids a patrol by Dalton, returning the data to Belthasar.
  • 2302 - It's only then that Crono's party (as well as the player!) realizes that they first appeared in Chronopolis when they broke Lucca's Time Egg... They wonder if Belthasar had made them come intentionally, and if he's hiding something from them concerning the origin of King Zeal's "sudden" appearance.

Chapter Six: Awaken to the Eruption

Note: A short and rough explanation of the Pocket Dimension principle could be put somewhere in this chapter or the previous one (in the notes?). This principle relative to Lavos must be explained somewhere before what follows in any case, because this is mandatory to understand King Zeal's mistake, and because the player didn't necessarily read about it on the Compendium before playing the game.

Well... if you're thinking "what the hell happened to Singing Mt among all those changes?", it was pushed back but I think this chapter is the best place for it, it goes perfectly well as a build-up to the Atash Kedah scene and the Reptite world introduction.

  • 2302 - Having recovered his notes, Belthasar decides that the Dragoon Tooth is the perfect thing they need to power Chronopolis. He sends the party to Prehistory (still no Epoch... I think).
  • 649999998 - Reptites are still alive and well. They're starting to go on the decline, but if they can survive 65 millions of years of "warm" Ice Age, they can surely survive 2 tiny years of an Ice Age that has just begun, can't they?
  • 64999998 - Crono rescues Ayla and steals the Dragoon Tooth from the Reptites, an enriched piece of Dreamstone. Could we make this piece a terrestrial Dreamstone instead of a piece of Lavos shell? It could be an artifact of the same "type" as the Sun Stone or the Rainbow Shell. I think having another piece of Lavos shell (with the Frozen Flame) is a bit redundant, and it sort of diminishes the aura and pride of the Reptite civilisation.
  • 64999998 - Immediately, the party and Ayla discovers King Zeal. King Zeal has been at Zeal, and erroneously deduces that if he can destroy Lavos in prehistory, he can prevent the eruption. He is 50% under Lavos's control, still unaware of it.
  • 64999998 - Lavos is actually hoping King Zeal will severely disrupt the timeline, eliminating Chronopolis and making the time travelers stick out like sore thumbs in a new world for easy collection and elimination... but the player doesn't necessarily realizes that.
  • 64999998 - Crono rushes to the scene to find Ayla wounded. King Zeal explains he is attempting a huge spell that will have severe environmental consequences, primarily resulting in a warmer Ice Age. To make things more climactic, some Reptites are present too. They watch King Zeal indirectly giving them a new destiny as the human party is whacked (well they get whacked too but they're happy for the rest of their species)...
  • 64999998 - The party fails to stop King Zeal (and to explain him the PD principle in less than 30 seconds!), and the Frozen Flame dispenses them across the new timeline in which the Reptites have survived.

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