God, I Miss This Place

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

To My Dear Friends,

I was cleaning out some old boxes in my basement in the Depths of the Night and found a burned CD with the simple text "CT Archive" -- the Sealed Door of nostalgia washed over me. This was a CD archive I had made back in 2003 of all the remixes I'd collected over the years; I've since backed it up to my computer and have been further washed over with bittersweet nostalgia while listening to it (my god, I forgot how good the Zeal Love OC Remix was).

It made me miss the old days. I didn't create this account until around 2007/2008, but before that I lurked for several years beforehand, so even though I wasn't contributing to conversation, I still "felt" like part of the community in a werid way. It wasn't until after *Prophet's Guile* I finally broke down and created an account (I think I was trying to get help with it or something). Anyway...

I miss the days of V_Translanka and his forum naziism. The days of unabashed conversation about whether or not Zeality was a megalomaniac. Of Faust_Wolf's optimism for fanon. Of Kyronea and Lifawolf (I'm still rocking her hekran art) and satoh and sajaintah and justin_3009 and magil and Mauron and Thought and tushantin and themage and alfador and Kebrel and Chrono'99 and maggiekarp and Radical_Dreamer and Romana and Zakyrus and Tact and Vehek and utunnels and TemporalKnight and Shadow Darkman and grey_the_angel and MrBekkler and Lord_J and a thousand others I can't remember off the top of my head. Good times and bad, I miss it all.

I miss Chrono Trigger. These days I can barely get through a playthrough. I am old. I am now a dad with a career... and very little time for fan projects let alone actually playing video games. I used to sit on here and refresh the tab to see what new posts would come in. I'd wake up early and check the forum for new posts. I would scour for new remixes archived here that I may have missed.

It's bittersweet and I miss it dearly. I'm nostalgic. I have Yearnings for the Wind. Time is slipping as it does, the Light of Silence upon my heart.

Thanks to all for the memories. I love and miss you all.

I'm not deactivating my account or anything, just had to get that off my chest.

[Kodokami]

Boo! Almost scared me there

Yeah, the nostalgia is hard. I miss it all too. I joined in 2009, but, like you, lurked for some time. I loved this community. Haven't found anything like it since. Aside from periodically peeking in here, I think I still keep up with ... just one old Compendiumite? Makes me sad.

I'm still rocking Licawolf's art too! (My profile image is part of one she drew for me.) And Zeal Love is still on my regular playlist. Though I never knew it was from 2003.

I hope everything is well with you, Boo. And everyone else!

EDIT: All this time and I only now reached 800 posts.

[utunnels]

It becomes too quiet recently.

[skylark]

Even though it's quiet, at least there are still a couple of projects being worked on.

...which reminds me, I still need to finish the story synopsis for mine. =<

[Mauron]

I'm still hacking away at the game - sometimes too slowly.

[Acacia Sgt]

The old days, huh.

Can't imagine that. I think I joined not that long after discovering this place (late 2008 in the time of CTDS's release)... man, I don't remember how I found this place...

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

@Mauron -- You still working on that POC thing we were working on back in 2014? If so, and you need and sprites, let me know. I don't have as much time as I did back then, but I could manage something like that.

[FaustWolf]

I'm glad to see you're still kicking Boo! So it's finally come to this. Here we are, talking about "the good old days" like senior citizens gathering at a Class of '51 reunion, hahaha!

All kidding aside, looking back on those days I think I understand what real nostalgia is now. It's knowing you were there with a special community at a special moment in time, one that we'll never be able to get back quite the way it was then. But it's also looking forward, proud that you'll always carry the spirit of that community with you, and knowing how it helped shape the person you are today.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

And we're not even the old guard 'round here!

But yeah, we were all here during a really creative renaissance for Chrono fandom. I think conversation and theorizing had really been hashed out and that left us with fan creation. But I think you hit the head on the nail with your musings on community, being part of said community, and the changing of things over time.

[Mauron]

My hacking time has been on the low side lately - I seem to focus on Hi-Tech or the 8th character patch when I do put in effort. I've been working on the 8th character patch since I started ROM Hacking, back when Prophet's Guile was released.

[utunnels]

Well, it seems Chrono Cross turns 17 today.
 

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Whoa. That makes me feel even more... old.

I remember about a week before the unveiling of Chrono Cross there were murmors of the game. I first heard the name on the old AOL Antagonist forum and remember thinking of a crucifixion cross and was like, "huh?" A week or so later it was unveiled and the demo disk was said to be packaged with Legend of Mana.

I bought Legend of Mana (I was also a fan of Secret of Mana) and was disappointed that I didn't get the demo disk.

So Chrono Cross ending up being the first time I preordered a game.

[xcalibur]

I'm glad to see you're still kicking Boo! So it's finally come to this. Here we are, talking about "the good old days" like senior citizens gathering at a Class of '51 reunion, hahaha!

All kidding aside, looking back on those days I think I understand what real nostalgia is now. It's knowing you were there with a special community at a special moment in time, one that we'll never be able get back quite the way it was then. But it's also looking forward, proud that you'll always carry the spirit of that community with you, and knowing how it helped shape the person you are today.

indeed. in life, there are certain confluences of people and events, which as time passes cannot be reconstructed. I'm glad I at least had peripheral involvement with the Compendium during its height.

[Lord J Esq]

Though no era lasts forever, never will its luminaries forget it, after it has passed.

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

I think most of us hear you, Boo, and sympathize. I think most of us understand.

And now: Do not let your acceptance of the world as it is keep you from dreaming, Boo. And do not let it keep you from finding ways to bring little shards of that dream alive, here and now. Sometimes it's just a simple matter of your favorite spoon turning up at the top of the silverware drawer for your afternoon tea.

Zeal lives on! Not in the stone towers, or the exquisite filigreed sculptures, but in us. This is the way it always has been, for us humans...

[xcalibur]

Though no era lasts forever, never will its luminaries forget it, after it has passed.

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

I think most of us hear you, Boo, and sympathize. I think most of us understand.

And now: Do not let your acceptance of the world as it is keep you from dreaming, Boo. And do not let it keep you from finding ways to bring little shards of that dream alive, here and now. Sometimes it's just a simple matter of your favorite spoon turning up at the top of the silverware drawer for your afternoon tea.

Zeal lives on! Not in the stone towers, or the exquisite filigreed sculptures, but in us. This is the way it always has been, for us humans...

I vaguely recall us having differences in the past. But I hope you agree that all that is water under the bridge.

What matters is the dream of Zeal. And yes, it is still alive. As long as we use our minds and imaginations to create, Zeal lives on.