Dialogue Enhancements Commentary Thread (old)

[Kyronea]

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Perhaps not so much a sidequest in the traditional Chrono Trigger sense of a sidequest, but more of a nice area for New Game +. Consider how we're making Lavos level **, and how, other than the endings, this essentially makes New Game + irrelevant. Special areas for New Game + for gameplay and other neat things should be a definite must. Now, perhaps not so much a Medina Sewers per se so much as the idea is used as an example of what we should add. Call it bonus content not considered to be part of the story, if you will. This way we avoid rendering New Game + irrelevant the way I began to fear we were doing with our rebalancing.

[Zakyrus]

Medina Sewers would be more of a dungeon containing Mystic/Lavos/Magus Lore than treasure.

Any other things that can be done on new game+ would be awesome. As I said before, the more the merrier. New Game+ still serves as a path to getting alternate endings.

[Kyronea]

Aye, that it does, but beyond that it rarely held much worth. Several new explorable areas and other interesting things would be a definite bonus for New Game +.  What all exactly I don't know yet, but Medina Sewers is definitely one option. Perhaps we can relegate that cave of powerful Lavos Spawn to this as well.

[Zakyrus]

Sure thing. The Ragnarok Sword will given after the Lavos Spawn Cave.
When you first enter the cave from Death Peak it will say "A powerful force holds you back."
You won't be able to get in unless New Game+.
The Ragnarok Sword(3rd best sword in the game) will randomly cast Flare so I don't want the players to be able to get it the first time through the game.

[Kyronea]

A good idea, that. Frankly, I'm liking this...after all, you could only fight Ozzie, Slash, and Flea in Chrono Cross in a New Game +, so it makes sense that there would be other bits in New Game + that are unaccesible.

Perhaps Black Cat Spekkio might also be a New Game + artifact, as would a few other things...what all to list under it I don't know, but we should definitely add a bunch, to make it worthwhile.

[Zakyrus]

So:

Medina Sewers; New Game+ only, must be done before Ozzie's Hideout is complete.
Valley of the Shadow of Death; New Game+ only, must have Crono resurrected. (there's no storyline really here, other than the fact the part mentions an infinite Lavos Spawn source & just bringing Crono back means you can't do it too early on a NG+).

Black Cat Spekkio; New Game+ (then the Pink Nu is replaced with this)

I would like to add more mini-games to the game (like the stuff at the fair) only more in different places. Some prehistoric mini game or two would be cool. If you can come up with anything let me know.

[Kyronea]

Yes, a prehistoric dancing minigame, perhaps an expansion to the racing minigame in the future(such as other robotic opponents, perhaps?) and some definite new Zealian stuff.

I want to say something like extra story scenes but that would be a bad idea, since the entire idea of a "New Game +" has no basis in any "real" Chrono Trigger world and thus anything important storywise should be there from the start. No...perhaps new information of sorts, but only on unimportant details, such as the general daily life of a Truce Village resident in 600 A.F., or the history of the Guardia Kingdom in 200 A.F., or stuff like that. More like expansion of the world itself more accessible in a New Game + than in the regular New Game, to add to the exploration and provide for those of us like me who might eventually tire of simply going to new areas to fight random monsters.

[Zakyrus]

That's why I want to add a town tileset so that each town will have dozens of residents with lots of misc things they say as events upgrade in the game/timelines change. I want every NPC to upgrade what they say as the game goes on. With towns, there is so much more potential of possibilites of things that can be done.

[Kyronea]

Indeed, indeed...Well, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. We need to concentrate on the tasks currently at hand.

[Zakyrus]

I'm not going to bother with towns until I can get the storyline stuff done and all endings. Towns will be under the "NPC" development stuff, which won't really be until after new sidequests are done. Towns are just a final polish to the game. (as well as all the graphics, tech, audio, and other misc enhancments that will be put in last)

[Zakyrus]

The only "real" town map that will even be close to anything anytime soon will be Laruba Ruins. And that doesn't have any houses, everything is outside. (I may add a tree-village tileset later if I can -- like vines and ladder bridges and stuff) that would be really cool.)

[Kyronea]

Aye. We haven't spoken too much about the Laruba Ruins being rebuilt since it was first mentioned...at what story points will things occur with the village, exactly?

[Zakyrus]

Here's what I did so far:

I need to add ruined buldings (made out of those walls) to the map. Then I need to make the fixed version complete, which is off to the side of the map. The events will load the copytiles command to replace the trashed version with the fixed version after the Black Omen rises (at this point the sidequests are enabled). The Nu will still be sleeping in the upper corner, but now whatever party member you want to rename can be selected.

The survivors that stayed at The Meeting Site will move back to Laruba and begin rebuilding after Lavos falls.
After the Black Omen rises and the Laruba Village is complete, Ioka Meeting Site will be a constant party now that the reptites are gone. (they might as well party, seeing as they have few time left before winter).


Of course this stuff won't be developed until after I get to working on the next project beta (after the public).

[Kyronea]

Nice ideas, there. I like where you're going. Still, as you said, we'll let it all slide until the first public beta is released, then we'll start concentrating on this other stuff.

[Zakyrus]

Oh yeah, if this fits with enhancements: I expanded the Mystic Mts.... after the Black Omen rises we should have the upper area accessable, and full of some pissed off Trihorns, who proceed to attack you. At the top(opposite of the gate on the same map) there is an Orion bow for Marle. (3rd best bow for her).

The area that is a small clearing will be a place that has a higher chance of Sagebloom appearing. It will also be very hidden.

I still need to do alot of work on the Mystic Mts Gulch, (there will be a Laruba Villager that prevents you from going up there until after the Black Omen rises).

As for Mystic Mts Base, I need to change it a little more so it doesn't look like the Denadoro as much. (though the lake I made is awesome)