Author Topic: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?  (Read 3231 times)

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Hey all,

I'm sure there are countless threads on this, but I'm interested in hearing how others envision the next hypothetical Chrono game. Feel free to consider it as a new game on current gen platforms, or a ROM hack a la Crimson Echoes.

I've come up with two concepts, one of which should be familiar to some of you.

1.) Nu and Kilwala's Great Adventure

The first would be a more light-hearted sidequel to Chrono Trigger a la Rosencrantz and Guildersten Are Dead, which follows a group of time travelers hopping around time at the same time as Crono and company (and are thus the 'visitors' mentioned at the End of Time).

The idea was that the nu and kilwala from the OVA have their own adventure, constantly one step in front of, behind, or alongside the Chrono Trigger crew, often accidentally helping them and pushing the plot along.

Mauron, Kodokami, and I had discussed this to some degree a few years back, and even put some sprites together as a potential ROM-hack. The option wasn't to continue the Chrono series, but rather create a fairly low-level ROM-hack where new maps and resource creation would be a minimal lift. Most maps, enemy placements, and all that could simply be reused with no edits outside of event changes.

2. Chrono Phase

My second idea was an untitled sequel/interquel in that it follows events in the ideal timeline AFTER Chrono Cross' ending, but impacts the Chrono Trigger crew greatly and highlights their struggles with counter-time. I wanted it to be a "best of" kind of game, that takes some from Chrono Trigger, some from Chrono Cross, and adds in some new.

I also intended this to be a natural evolution in the time travel theme of the Chrono series. Chrono Trigger revolved around changing a single timeline. Chrono Cross revolved around two parallel universes, and this game revolved around revisiting previously erased timelines and adding another layer of time travel on already existing time travel.

The story starts in a new time era, but quickly revisits old eras and old friends. It also deals heavily with the unrealized plot points of Counter-Time and the Assassin of Time (from Chrono Cross). While exploring multiple mysterious attempts to make adjustments to the timeline, the party is forced to deal with other time travelers and the threat of Lavos' enmity.

Counter-time is explained as the ability to revisit timelines previously erased and discarded to the Darkness Beyond Time, allowing for story events in both previous Chrono Trigger timelines and Chrono Cross. Through this the party is confronted by the moral quandaries that time travel presents. They also are able to fall back to some of the Chrono Cross friends by revisiting the Chrono Cross timeline(s).

Events explore the following eras: post-65 million BC, 3 million BC, post-12000BC, post-600AD, post-1000AD, 1200AD, and post-2300AD. I say post to indicate that is is X amount of years after the events of Chrono Trigger. There are multiple events that also cover discarded timelines, but those are focalized events without worldmaps.

Playable characters included newcomer and protagonist Phase, Toma XXXIX, newcomer Ada from 2400AD (an agent of Balthasar and human avatar of FATE AI), Marle, Crono, Robo, and Schala. There were also two characters from Radical Dreamers/Chrono Cross.

A better understanding of the story is...

The idea is that Project Kid was successful in that it saved Schala from the Time Devourer, and the ideal timeline is created. After being freed, Schala travels to 2300AD and stops Balthasar and Project Kid, altering history (as it no longer serves a purpose -- her existence as the Time Devourer in the Darkness Beyond Time was outside of space-time). She warns Balthasar about the Assassin of Time and explains to him that the only way to save the universe from this metaphysical threat is to stop Project Kid, stopping El Nido from ever being created. She is then overcome with despair at having erased those millions of lives, and locks herself into a self-created pocket dimension in which she gives herself the a false perfect life, one that she can live in a dream El Nido with a dream Serge.

Thus, in this timeline, the events of Chrono Cross did occur, but were entirely undone... but Schala was still saved since the Darkness Beyond Time is beyond space-time and can't be affected by time travel; whatever happens there, happens. Still following?

The story actually follows a newcomer, Phase, a young archaeologist in 1200AD studying Guardia long after its fall. While exploring the ruins of Guardia Castle with a descendant of Toma, they find Marle's pendant (who is finally confirmed to be Doreen) and get caught up with Robo and Balthasar in this (yet another) version of 2300AD of the ideal timeline. Balthesar, having been stopped from creating Project Kid, has now established the Time Research Institute to help monitor space-time and keep it safe from farther incursions. Even in this new timeline, Lucca and Robo have joined Balthesar, and they've successfully tapped and enslaved the Frozen Flame to assist them. They monitor space-time "ripples" (changes in history) using their newest invention, the Chronoscope.

Throughout the story, there are sinister warnings against this Assassin of Time, and eventually the party is forced to retrieve Schala from her self-imposed exile in a false reality to understand what they're up against. She refuses to leave, preferring a false reality of her own making, but she explains in a turn of events what the Assassin of Time actually is.

She reveals that Lavos was a unique entity from beyond space and time, foregoing any sort of Lavos origin story in favor of it being a Cthulthu-esque monster from beyond imagination. It existed in a pocket dimension, manipulating and consuming both the planet and it's life in order to harvest and integrate genetic material to make itself stronger (as hinted at in Chrono Trigger). However, it was able to exist in a pocket dimension and thus see its own demise, and it set a plan in motion to save itself: it used the remains of Crono obliterated in the Ocean Palace disaster and instilled it with its own consciousnesses, creating a false human being. The plan was that this human (who wouldn't know that it was, in essence, Lavos-turned-human) - would live a human life, understand the strength/willpower of humanity, and then be reabsorbed by Lavos, giving itself the human experiences and thus those human strengths/values/willpower that can't be quantified by simple genetics. The only way this could work was if the Lavos-turned-human didn't realize what s/he was.

The imagery was a direct correlation to Jesus, in that Jesus was supposedly god-made-man. Phase, the hero, would in turn be Lavos-turned-human with religious allegory.

Phase, the protagonist, is this being, and ultimately rejects the call of Lavos and his eventually destiny as the Assassin of Time. He is devastated to learn that he is destined to become a part of Lavos and falls to despair, knowing that he will, in turn, help Lavos succeed.

Schala (who is also suffering from the knowledge that she was part of the Time Devourer and destroyed multiple timelines and millions of erased lives) and Phase bond and come to terms with their destines. Schala joins the party and they steel themselves for the future and take on the big bad. Another person, who I won't name, steps up to willfully become the Assassin of
Time and becomes the big bad for the last 1/4 of the game.

An individual does travel back to 3 million BC, revealing that all of the timeline incursions thus far were intentional. Phase is able to reject his calling to Lavos, so this individual decides to turn coat and become one with Lavos, becoming a flawed Assassin of Time. The heroes end up defeating this individual and everyone goes home.

The game ends with a coda showcasing Balthesar using the Chronoscope to realize that all this time travel is having negative effects on the structure of space-time, and he resolves to use his resources to present further changes to the timeline, for good or for bad.

Obviously there's too much to go into for one post, but that's the gist of it. I had some other ideas I was trying to incorporate:

1.) This idea that Serge really was another version of the Assassin of Time. His whole existence and contact with the Frozen Flame was actually fulfilling his prophecy as the Assassin of Time. Had Schala not erased El Nido (and Serge) from history, he would have eventually succumbed to his fate. She attempts to change the timeline multiple times to prevent this (since she is in love with Serge), but gives up, says eff it, and scraps the entire timeline in which El Nido exists. This is what causes her to fall into depression and isolate herself into a false reality.

2.) This idea that the Porre Republic (founded by Dalton and responsible for the Fall of Guardia) was propped up by Dalton, who was essentially immortal due to his contact with the Frozen Flame at the Ocean Palace Disaster event. The events in 1200AD ultimately take up a fairly large chunk of the story; it is like the 600AD of Chrono Trigger in regards to plot development and twists.

3.) The fall of Guardia is explored, with Crono and Marle (who are from post-1000AD, pre-1005AD) learn of this event and struggled with whether or not they should prevent it. We also learn how Dalton is able to manage this -- he holds an artifact from Zeal, the Forge. Whereas Gaspar has the Time Egg, Belthesar has the Epoch, Melchior had the Forge, which was lost when Zeal fell to the ocean. The Forge has quasi-life granting qualities and is intentionally left vague in description, although it allows for the manipulation and creation of life. Masa, Mune, and Doreen both fear and worship it, and Dalton is revealed to have used the Forge to corrupt the Masamune and overthrow Guardia. The question is, do Crono and Marle actually do anything when they learn of this?

3.) A later incomplete rewrite added a potential foil for Balthesar, his son Rouen, who exists in the new ideal timeline. He was an anti-hero character, akin to Magus, who had originally been used by a future version of our 2300AD Balthesar. His original role was to clean up various timeline incursions from post-Chrono Cross Schala and her attempts to manipulate history so that the Assassin of Time is never created. Rouen, meanwhile, has full control over counter-time and can travel to and fro multiple timelines at will, and his nefarious deeds are revealed to be his attempts to avoid a time loop paradox due to Balthasar's timeline tamperings. It's only at this point that we realize Balthasar hasn't actually had a son yet, and we learn that Rouen is from decades into the future. My attempt here was to better utilize the concept of counter-time.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 04:37:47 pm by Boo the Gentleman Caller »

skylark

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2018, 05:25:22 pm »
My concept for a potential sequel has a WIP Tropes topic. :D (This post will assume that anyone reading has looked through said topic and all its spoilers.)

But seriously, Reflections is my second attempt at a Grand Finale for the series. It differs in scope from Sea of Dreams in that the time travel aspect is relegated to backstory, but the scope moves from a single parallel reality to full-on multiverse theory. It also differs in that Lavos is relegated to the background instead of being the inevitable threat with its origins explored like in Sea of Dreams.

I too wanted to explore the 'Assassin of Time' angle and thus had Reflections' main villain fulfill that role in the end. I also wanted to explore more of the 'Serge vs Dark Serge' evil twin aspect that ended up looking more like an afterthought in Cross.

But more than anything, I wanted to explore the aspects of Love and Hate, and how the former can lead to the latter if not reciprocated. It's funny how much we come to love these characters, but at what point does devotion transform into obsession? Who or what are we willing to give up to fuel it? How do we handle it if the reality shatters the illusions we build up?

Ultimately, we and those we love (especially those we love) are flawed in some way or another, no matter how much we delude ourselves otherwise, and the trick is learning to understand each other in spite of our flaws. To find reconciliation, wether it be between two people, between two nations, or between the past and the future.

And on the subject of the latter, I'm glad with what you did with Schala by making her flawed while still remaining true to what we know about her. I admit, I may have gone overboard in my interperetation though.

Mauron

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2018, 05:52:02 pm »
Inspired by the Moonstone quest.
Quote from: Robo
   It wasn't taken recently, though.
Let's go back in time a bit.

Quote from: Magus
Seems it's been gone for 1300 years
or so.
Let's get back to the present.

Seeing as Magus is the great expert in observing crime scenes...

CSI: Guardia

Magus is a time traveling detective who investigates crimes in 1000 AD and catches the criminals 400 years earlier.

Done as a ROM hack, because I like hacking the ROM.

Razig

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2018, 06:28:17 pm »
CSI: Guardia

[Victim has been bludgeoned to death with an alarm clock.]

Magus: Looks like he...

(•_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

Ran out of time.



YEEEEAAAHHH

ZeaLitY

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2018, 09:09:09 pm »
Chrono Break. ROM hack. 8 characters. Crono, Lucca, Glenn, Schala (Radical Dreamers), Serge, with the other three to be determined (you don't know how badly i want to retcon a genderbent Norris). There's also the opportunity to use a dream character, like Doreen, taking a more human form. It's hard to find decent female characters in Cross who weren't bit players, like Marcy, Mel, bleah...even Steena, compared to the popular characters, would take a total backseat role. The objective is to not have certain characters always on the bench at the End of Time. Big bad is indeterminate. The game would be an all-out tour-de-force tribute to the Chrono series. The expanded ROM would be stressed to its absolute limit.

Radical Dreamers Prequel and Sequel. ROM hack using 5 overworlds to represent 1020 A.D. at night, with passage between large zones representing the different continents etc. using ferries or forest border checkpoints/towns (Dorino might be a waypoint). Serge, Kid, and Magil, with guest roles; maybe an Acacia character. No idea how to make it a compelling story; time travel would figure in at some critical juncture. Cameos galore, and worldbuilding for the Radical Dreamers timeline.

They'll never be made. Chrono Break -- I can't for the life of me think of a compelling villain that wouldn't be some kind of meaningless original character. You can't one-up the Dream Devourer. Radical Dreamers -- what a fantastic passion niche project! And how small its fanbase would be...
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 09:10:59 pm by ZeaLitY »

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2018, 10:59:27 pm »
Quote
Ultimately, we and those we love (especially those we love) are flawed in some way or another, no matter how much we delude ourselves otherwise, and the trick is learning to understand each other in spite of our flaws. To find reconciliation, wether it be between two people, between two nations, or between the past and the future.

This is a really interesting approach and one thing the Chrono series needs. I love the characters in the series, but always thought they could benefit from a little more depth and nuance. A little less cookie cutter and a little more weightiness.

Quote
Magus: Looks like he...

(•_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

Ran out of time.

That's awesome. Give him a nu as a sidekick and I think you've got it down. A kilwala is the tough-as-nails police officer, a blue imp runs the crime lab, and you've got Gato running the tech side of things. ZOOM IN. ENHANCE. BOOYA.

Quote
ROM hack using 5 overworlds to represent 1020 A.D. at night, with passage between large zones representing the different continents etc. using ferries or forest border checkpoints/towns (Dorino might be a waypoint).

This is actually what we proposed for Angellus Errare: Heroes Unsung when Faustwolf, myself, and a bunch of others were trying to put together a concept. The entire game took place around 610AD and we hoped to show a more zoomed in overworld with "regions" as different world maps, although I don't recall us having ever considered having night options. You could easily pull that off -- Northern Zenan (Truce/Guardia), Southern Zenan (Porre), Choras, and Medina. If you do day and night cycles, that's roughly one major landmass per quadrant.

They'll never be made. Chrono Break -- I can't for the life of me think of a compelling villain that wouldn't be some kind of meaningless original character. You can't one-up the Dream Devourer. Radical Dreamers -- what a fantastic passion niche project! And how small its fanbase would be...

Quote
Chrono Break -- I can't for the life of me think of a compelling villain that wouldn't be some kind of meaningless original character. You can't one-up the Dream Devourer. Radical Dreamers -- what a fantastic passion niche project! And how small its fanbase would be...

You really can't one-up the Time Devourer. This is the problem I've always had when I get lost in my thoughts imaging potential continuations. How do you top a parasitic planet-munching alien-turned beyond-time-itself deity that is slowly maturing and growing more and more capable of consuming all of space-time?! You simply can't.

The only options then are existential ones, or twists on existing villains.

ZeaLitY

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2018, 11:10:21 pm »
I had the thought of continuing the series hint that saving the world wiped out 2300 A.D., and that with the sapling, humanity may have recovered, and so there may be time travelers trying to actually restore the Lavos timeline...but any such characters would be absolute jobbers compared to the main crew. To get people to care about the villain, it'd almost have to be a civil war-type scenario.

TheMage

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2018, 03:43:50 am »
Chrono Freeze

I've always had this idea of a cast of "villains" if you will in a game where our protagonists from CT are the bad guys. I imagined the main character as a Porre soldier, feeding into Dalton's deceit in 1005 A.D., and in the beginning of the ROM hack the first dungeon would be the player storming Guardia castle. Crono and Marle, of course, would easily beat us and be the dungeon 'end boss' but before they get the chance to defeat Dalton himself, a gate appears and swallows up Crono, Marle, and the protagonist.

Our Porre soldier wakes up in 610 A.D, and is troubled and disturbed by a 'united' Zenan, Porre and Truce having won the war with the mystics ten years earlier causing them to have very strong relations, at least in this time period. I figure at this point he would run into a now adult Tata, eager to be a knight of Guardia. Tata would act as a moral compass of sorts as the rest of the cast will be "villains" or at least morally questionable figures.  (Flea or Slash (maybe both of them) Dalton, possibly Atropos) The idea would be that the new party will see the original team as villains, changing history to suit their needs and they will begin (under Dalton's suggestion) to 'right' history, to go to pivotal moments to stop major events in the original game from taking place, at some point fighting every one of the original cast of characters from Chrono Trigger.

This is really due to Dalton being under the influence of the dream devourer or from the frozen flame, Lavos attempting to save himself, reaching out using Schala as a beacon to manipulate Dalton.

The ideas are all rough but ONE DAY I might attempt something! :wink:



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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2018, 10:17:43 pm »
When I was younger, I pictured the next Chrono sequel as exploring the dangers and consequences of time travel: getting lost and unable to go home; being deleted or deleting others; taking away whole histories.

Now that I'm a little older and wiser, however, I realize that this wouldn't be in keeping with the tone of the Chrono series. I think such a game could be great, but it wouldn't readily belong to the Chronoverse.

In terms of a straight-up story sequel I think Crimson Echoes already got there. That game genuinely scratches my sequel itch.

But in terms of the overall potential of the series, and thus thinking of a "Chrono Series Sequel" rather than a "Chrono Trigger Sequel," I like the idea of "Chrono Flip."

The point of such a game is: Okay, the Entity has died, and its last thoughts were to remember all the seasons of its life, and that was the action of Chrono Trigger. Now there is a new Entity (sort of like the Deku Sprout in Ocarina of Time, and that means another grand time-traveling adventure story as it comes of age vicariously through a mostly (but not entirely) new cast of characters and a completely different story. The point would be to aspire to the action, adventure, high stakes, and epic feel of Trigger without trying to copy or one-up Trigger.

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2018, 10:57:34 pm »
Quote
The point of such a game is: Okay, the Entity has died, and its last thoughts were to remember all the seasons of its life, and that was the action of Chrono Trigger. Now there is a new Entity (sort of like the Deku Sprout in Ocarina of Time, and that means another grand time-traveling adventure story as it comes of age vicariously through a mostly (but not entirely) new cast of characters and a completely different story. The point would be to aspire to the action, adventure, high stakes, and epic feel of Trigger without trying to copy or one-up Trigger.

Interesting. So what's your take on the Entity? Clearly not God (unless you're going the His Dark Materials route). Is it the planet? If so, what's your take on the death and rebirth of the planet? Very interesting concept, which could delve further into fantasy/mythology that the Chrono series never got too deep into.

Would it be an entirely different era in the far future, to where there is no longer AD/BC but rather a new calendar hierarchy thousands of years into the future and it seems almost like any entirely new planet (but is just that far into the timeline to where the cycle of development respins)?

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2018, 12:48:18 am »
Quote
The point of such a game is: Okay, the Entity has died, and its last thoughts were to remember all the seasons of its life, and that was the action of Chrono Trigger. Now there is a new Entity (sort of like the Deku Sprout in Ocarina of Time, and that means another grand time-traveling adventure story as it comes of age vicariously through a mostly (but not entirely) new cast of characters and a completely different story. The point would be to aspire to the action, adventure, high stakes, and epic feel of Trigger without trying to copy or one-up Trigger.

Interesting. So what's your take on the Entity? Clearly not God (unless you're going the His Dark Materials route). Is it the planet? If so, what's your take on the death and rebirth of the planet? Very interesting concept, which could delve further into fantasy/mythology that the Chrono series never got too deep into.

I think, here, "my take on the Entity" is less relevant than "my take on the Dream Team's take on the Entity." Like I said, the Chrono sequel I would do would be very different. But, to try and stay in the spirit of action and adventure, I think, since Chrono Trigger tied up the Entity plotline so nicely, the easiest way forward is generational change. If the Entity is the animate spirit of the planet (which it very likely is), there's nothing to require that the lifetime of the Entity as a spirit has to be the same as the physical lifetime of the planet. So there could always be an Entity, but not necessarily the same Entity. That's why I used the Deku Tree / Deku Sprout comparison, as it illustrates the idea nicely.

Would it be an entirely different era in the far future, to where there is no longer AD/BC but rather a new calendar hierarchy thousands of years into the future and it seems almost like any entirely new planet (but is just that far into the timeline to where the cycle of development respins)?

As far as that sort of thing goes, my main interest in any Chrono sequel is to explore the future. Near or far doesn't matter. Zeal already perfected the trope of "cool lost civilization in the past," so onto the future we look. No game in the Chrono series has truly explored the breadth of possibilities that lie ahead of us.

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2018, 04:42:39 pm »
Quote
I think, here, "my take on the Entity" is less relevant than "my take on the Dream Team's take on the Entity." Like I said, the Chrono sequel I would do would be very different. But, to try and stay in the spirit of action and adventure, I think, since Chrono Trigger tied up the Entity plotline so nicely, the easiest way forward is generational change. If the Entity is the animate spirit of the planet (which it very likely is), there's nothing to require that the lifetime of the Entity as a spirit has to be the same as the physical lifetime of the planet. So there could always be an Entity, but not necessarily the same Entity. That's why I used the Deku Tree / Deku Sprout comparison, as it illustrates the idea nicely.

That could actually be pretty cool. More elemental/druidic in nature; rather than the planet itself, it's more a metaphysical representation of life and nature and "that which occurs naturally." I like it. Definitely different than what most would consider the Entity, but cool none-the-less. Like I said, a more fantasy-metaphysical approach to the Chronoverse wouldn't be a bad thing.

Quote
As far as that sort of thing goes, my main interest in any Chrono sequel is to explore the future. Near or far doesn't matter. Zeal already perfected the trope of "cool lost civilization in the past," so onto the future we look. No game in the Chrono series has truly explored the breadth of possibilities that lie ahead of us.

When TheMage, MrBekkler, and I were working on Chrono Shift, one change to lore I added was that Zeal has actually existed in multiple iterations of rise and fall. It was almost destiny for it to ultimately completely crash and burn. In our story, two sisters had found the Frozen Flame in 3 Million BC, tapped into it's powers, and became demigods as dual Arbiters of the Flame's powers. One sister believed in unity, the other believed in strength through power (evolution), and they chose very different paths to try and lead humanity into the future.

One sister founded Zeal (the sister who believed in 'survival of the fittest'), the other founded a nation called Calaspera (which is an unused concept from Crimson Echoes notes). Zeal relied on magic, while Calaspera relied on magi-tek. The two became major world powers and constantly vied for power, the two sisters eventually becoming known as Goddesses (and were represented in Chrono Trigger's Zeal as those woman/monstrous statues through Zeal cities).

Long story short, over several thousands years, Zeal would grow too big for it's britches, get overly reliant on power (and the pursuit of), and attempt to subjugate the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Calaspera would have to step up and put Zeal in it's place. Zeal was always defeated and set back; it was never outright destroyed, but was forced to rebuild itself in the hopes that "this time" it would look inward and become the utopian society it was capable of becoming (and not just utopian for those there).

The iteration of Zeal we see in Chrono Trigger is actually the seventh version, and about 20 years before Chrono Trigger's 12000BC, Zeal and Calaspera had once again come to blows. However, this time, Zeal was able to utilize the Sun Stone and Frozen Flame to quite literally raise itself above the rest of the world -- and it destroyed Calaspera in the process. The literal ruins of Calaspera - which at this point existed on the ocean floor in a huge dome-like structure - was used to help build the Black Omen/Ocean Palace.

Random thought, but I say that all that to mean that the future is the most open for adventure, but there are still areas where the past can become fun and relevant. Fleshing things out (like 3 million BC) could be cool. Not that you said anything otherwise, just thinking out loud.

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2018, 08:03:42 pm »
What about a game that explores the origins of Lavos? I've always been curious about it. We're calling it Lavos, but it really is just a species of unknown origins that came from somewhere. Either someone or something created it as a weapon of cosmic proportions, or the species is just a life form that originated through mutation or evolution. I lean towards the latter, as a big bad "Mwahaha" being behind the creation of Lavos seems lame. What could anyone hope to gain from creating a life form that annihilates planets endlessly, with the possibility of mutating into a devourer of all spacetime?

Also, we have no idea just how many other Lavos'es are out there. It would be quite incredible if Earth (is it Earth?) was the first planet to fall victim to its species. There might even be Lavos spawns left that Crono & co hadn't discovered. Would space travel be too much of a leap for a new installment?

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #13 on: June 18, 2018, 07:52:29 pm »
I think any Chrono sequel should step far away from the established characters and locations. IMO it's essentially impossible to "get it right" at this point.

I'd have a small story set in an isolated corner of the Chrono world, kind of like what Chrono Cross did. There'd be plenty of references to important events in the outside world, and a few tantalizing hints about what's happened to some of the characters... but that's it.

As with the other games, a Something Strange would happen that leads our silent protagonist into a twisted version of the world he knows. Rather than having different time periods, he'd have to travel through several different versions of the world (from normal to progressively worse to worst case scenario). His mission is twofold: help the people he encounters along the way, many of whom are analogues to people from his own life, and then find a way home.

I see probably six main characters and one or two hidden/optional characters, with at least one character from each version of the world. Definitely a three member active party and some version of the active time battle system. Traditional character roles would return: swordsman, healer, mage, jack-of-all trades, brawler, etc.

The final villain wouldn't be Lavos or anything like that, but rather the evil person who ruined the world in each iteration. In the end, the worst versions of the world would be realities where this person learned more about, and had more control over, the Something Strange that let you move between realities in the first place. He's using this Something Strange to twist the world to fit his own selfish desires. In the end, you'd find out that it's actually your own analogue from one of the other worlds, with the point of divergence between you and him being some key moment from earlier in your life.

The idea would be to add to the lore of the Chrono world, using familiar tropes, without changing the existing Trigger and Cross canon in any way (which IMO was Cross's big mistake).
« Last Edit: June 18, 2018, 07:56:02 pm by Fauntleroy »

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Chrono Concepts - How Do You Picture the Next Chrono Game?
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2018, 11:08:29 pm »
I like it, Fauntleroy!