I am a newbie of the Extremely Sad variety who actually considered this in detail during a recent playthrough of the game. And wrote it up.
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(The original point 1 was introductory garbage.)
2. Additions Other than Character Backstory Events
-Magus and Dario as additional playable characters (but *without*
removing Guile to replace him with Magus)
-An additional ending replacing the "bad ending" produced when the
player defeats the Time Devourer without invoking the elemental
sequence (the "Magus Goes Berserk" ending)
-Some actual dialog for Serge (I've never liked the "silent protagonist"
schtick, although CC at least pulls it off well enought that it doesn't
seem actively stupid--Yeah, Suikoden V, I'm looking at you).
-Additional dual/triple techs, between characters with logical connections
to one another
-The ability to trade forging materials for other forging materials, instead
of just Elements-->forging materials (or am I the only one who's ever
ended up with 50+ bones and no carapaces?)
-Reduce the number of weird accents. Harle's and Pierre's pseudo-
French kinda works, but could we please get rid of the chaCHA?
-Auxiliary characters/"tag-alongs": The ability to have one or more
characters "present" in the party for the purpose of dialog and events,
without having them actually taking part in combat (although if a tag-
along is a fully playable character, the player should be able to switch
him/her out with the playable characters, even in a dungeon setting).
This is intended to be similar to the "support character" system in the
more recent Suikoden games, and may be more workable in a
remake than a hack. And yeah, I have a reason for this.
3. Likely Casualties
Some peripheral characters such as Janice may have to be demoted to
NPCs or completely removed, depending on available resources.
4. Disposition of Characters
a. Characters who must be implemented from the get-go: Serge, Kid, Guile,
Magus, Lynx-Serge, Harle, Norris, Karsh, Radius, Steena.
b. Second pass--Dragoon Cluster: Zoah, Marcy, Dario, Glenn.
c. Second pass--Pirates'n'Musicians Cluster: Nikki, Fargo.
d. Third pass--Porrean Science Cluster: Luccia, Grobyc.
e. As Time Permits: Leena, Miki, Sprigg, Skelly, Leah, Sneff, Pierre, Orlha.
Leena, Leah, Sprig, Sneff and Miki will need to be in as NPCs if they are
not playable, barring major plot alterations.
f. Demotable to NPC: Viper, Riddel, Korcha, Zappa, Orcha, Razzly, Macha,
Starky, Irenes, Mel, Doc.
g. Bottom Priority/May Be Dropped: Poshul, Janice, Draggy, Mojo, Turnip,
NeoFio, Greco, Funguy, Van, Pip.
Characters in the first category are vital to the storyline (with the arguable exception
of Magus). The next three groupings tie into significant sidequests/plot developments.
The "as time permits" characters either have some plot link, or some potential for
interesting backstory. Yes, Pierre's inclusion here means that one branch of the
"to Viper Manor" section of the game may cease to exist.
The "demotable" characters are needed briefly for various plot purposes, but aren't
very useful as fighters for the most part. The desire to occasionally have some of
these people attached to the party (Starky near the end, frex) despite them being
NPCs is one of the drivers behind the "tag-alongs" idea.
In order to be placed in the "May be Dropped" category, characters must utterly
fail to tie into the main plot and be completely missable for recruitment regardless
of story branches chosen. Curiously enough, most of the characters that appear
to have been invented when the CC devs were smoking substances of questionable
legality fall here. Their primary purpose in the game seems to have been adding
variety to the set of available combat styles, and while some of them may be *neat*,
none are useful from a story point of view.
Elemental breakdown is as follows:
a: 2 Wht, 4 Blk, 1 Red, 1 Yel, 2 Grn (Magus is presumed to be black-innate; Dario, white)
b-d: 1 Wht, 2 Blk, 3 Blu, 1 Yel, 1 Grn
e: 1 Blk, 3 Blu, 1 Red, 1 Yel, 1 Grn
Total: 3 Wht, 7 Blk, 6 Blu, 2 Red, 3 Yel, 4 Grn
Observations: Too much black/blue even if Lynx is ignored, and too little red/yellow
(white is less of a concern, because Serge is white-innate). If anyone from f-g is to
be drawn back in, the priority must therefore be given to red/yellow characters (then
to white/green). Or perhaps it would be useful to change the innates of, say,
Luccia and Grobyc?
Total characters in a-d: 18.
Total characters in a-e: 25.
5. Stat Growth, Grid, Etc., for New Characters
a. Dario: A white-innate(?) heavy fighter who equips swords. Copying Glenn's
growth and grid for him should be sufficient, if there isn't enough information
attached to enemy-Dario. His techs would be physically-based, and he would
likely have duals with Glenn and Karsh, and possibly also with Zoah and Marcy.
(There should also be a triple-tech for any all-Dragoon party, although I suppose
you'd only get to see it in a New Game+.)
b. Magus: This is more complicated. The Magus of Chrono Trigger is
*the* most powerful spellcaster in the game; in fact, there are indications he
may be the most powerful spellcaster in that world's history. His stats are
impressive: by the time he reaches level **, he has maximized all but two
(where all the other characters fail to max out at least three) and has the
highest or second-highest value of any PC even in those stats he hasn't maxed.
The game succeeds in keeping him in the "middle tier" of melee fighters, so to
speak, only by giving his best weapon an attack stat 60 points lower than that
of Crono's Rainbow.
Keeping that in mind, Magus *should* have a magic stat more impressive than
Guile's or Riddel's, and be, again, in the second tier of fighters--templating the
growth of his physical stats from someone like Norris might work, but his
magic stat growth will have to be done from scratch. To prevent him from
becoming tremendously overpowered in the early game, I propose "back-loading"
his Element Grid even more thoroughly than Guile's, giving him no level 1-2 slots
at all, and occupying his only third-level slot with a tech. If need be, he can be
given an in-game line to the effect that his magic is so powerful it tends to overload
and "blow out" lower-level Elements. Again, his grid growth would have to be
worked out from scratch.
His techniques would be taken from his spells in Chrono Trigger--Dark Bomb,
Dark Mist, and Dark Matter. He would probably have a dual tech with Guile
and possibly a late-game one with Kid.
His physical aspect probably won't have changed much since we last saw him--
he may be a bit more human-looking, but would still have long blue hair, light
skin, ears that are at least slightly pointed, a tendency to float instead of run
(which he probably taught to Guile) and a fondness for long capes, scythes,
leather armour, and colours in the blue range. He would also have the Amulet
Schala gave him unremovably equipped, even though he would initially not
remember what it was.
Alone of the characters, Magus has no counterpart in the alternate dimension,
not even a dead one--he exists only in Another World, having skipped over the
dimensional split by means of time travel.
6. Character Backstory and Development
a. Serge: Covered by the original game, although I would like to dramatize the
Lynx <-> Wazuki connection, rather than having it infodumped by Ghost-Crono.
b. Kid: Covered by the original game.
c. Magus: Again, this is complicated. Magus will appear in the game
initially after Kid has been poisoned at Viper Manor--a favour called in by Guile
will have him bringing the Hydra Humour, rather than it being a fetch-quest. At
this point, Magus is suffering from complete amnesia regarding events before he
woke up in the woods near Porre several years earlier. He retains his name
only because some Porrean history buff remarked that he resembled the Mystic
leader of some four centuries earlier, and the name "felt right" to him. However,
upon seeing Kid, he discovers that she seems familiar to him--although he doesn't
know why--and decides to join up with Serge so that he can keep an eye on her.
(He has a similar reaction to the Zeal crest on the Astral Amulet--familiar, but he
doesn't understand why.) He retains his rather acidic, goal-directed personality
and bad habit of making casual death threats despite not remembering who he is,
and he will not voluntarily allow himself to be separated from Kid, taking a tag-along
slot (or requiring that she take one) if necessary.
Unlike the other characters, Magus will not believe for an instant that Lynx-Serge
is really Serge (wrong aura), and so catches up with the real Serge either while he's still
in the Temporal Vortex, or shortly after he leaves. He's also acquainted with
Sprigg--Magus is apparently the current head of the continental Magic Guild to
which both she and Guile belong.
He recognizes the Masamune, naturally, but only on the same basis as the Zeal
crest--"I've seen this thing before, but I don't remember where, and [in the
case of the Masamune] I don't like it."
Magus begins to regain his memory during the incident with the ghost-children at
Nadia's Bell, at which point one of them (probably Lucca) addresses him as
"Janus", causing some blurry and largely non-visual memories to surface. He recalls
that his proper name is Janus Zeal, and is able to put names to the three ghost-
children and remember a bit about both the defeat of Lavos and his Zealian
childhood, but he still can't recall his sister's face.
Things firm up a bit when the characters return to Viper Manor and run into
Belthasar in the library--Magus, naturally, recognizes him, but of course, the
old man won't tell him anything useful yet.
Lucca's letter startles him ("I was . . . looking for you?"), but doesn't produce
anything much useful.
He doesn't completely regain his memory until the final conversation with
Belthasar at Terra Tower, at which time the old man *finally* fills in the
blanks for him. Magus doesn't take Belthasar's meddling well, and probably
has to be restrained from killing the old man (or not--offing the old bastard
might actually be *good* for the Chronoverse). He also figures out that there
is a relationship between Schala and Kid, although I doubt he actually tells
the party anything useful at this point.
(It would be nice if, upon regaining his memory, Magus discarded his
Element Grid and returned to the practice of "true magic" in the style of
Chrono Trigger, but if this is implemented as a hack, that may be prohibitively
difficult. In that case, he would receive his Level 7 "Dark Matter" tech here.)
He will, at this point, become stubbornly attached to the party *as well as*
Kid, refusing to be left behind or leave her behind (now you understand the
real reason I wanted those "tag-along" slots!)
Logically, he will have some dialog with the children on the beach, but I'm
not sure, as yet, what it will contain. He may express some surprise that
Kid is a clone, given that she's blonde. Likewise, his presence will alter the
"good" ending. ("Schala . . . All you have to do to find him is go to Arni.")
He'll have even more effect on the "bad" ending, where Schala is not
separated from the Time Devourer. Instead of nothing happening at the
end of the combat, Magus will flip out and attack Serge (knocking other party
members, including Kid, out, if necessary). And if Magus wins this fight, he
will take his rage and grief out on the world, destroying it as thoroughly as
Lavos would have.
If he loses, his dying words will probably be addressed to Kid. ("I'm sorry . . .
Schala.")
d. Guile: He's probably known Magus for quite a while (depending on the
exact timing, he may even be the one who found him wandering around
near Porre with no memory), and had some sort of teacher-student
relationship with him. Flashbacks to this might give the opportunity to
show a little of his life on the continent and the reason why he left. He
appears to be refined/educated--could he be a disgraced or disposessed
nobleman?
e. Harle: Covered by the original game, more or less, given that she *needs*
to be enigmatic.
f. Karsh, Dario, and Riddel: I put these three together because their stories are
intertwined. They do get a certain amount of backstory in the original game
(more than most of the other characters), but it seems to me that one vital
point has been left out: there are *two* Riddels. The Home World Riddel
wouldn't have had any reason to tag along to the Sea of Eden (yes, I know
there's some canon indication she did go, but that makes no sense when you
consider her observed character). If she turns up, and discovers that the Riddel
from Another World has her claws into the Home World Dario, what would
her reaction be? There's only one Dario left, so which of them would get him?
Would Karsh attempt to console the loser?
Also, it would be interesting to see Karsh do more with the amnesiac Solt and
Peppor of Home World--restoring their memories and perhaps even teasing
out what happened at the Sea of Eden from them.
It might also be interesting to explore Dario's relationships with Garai and
Glenn more thoroughly--how did Garai feel about his sons? And who was
their mother?
g. Glenn: Glenn's relationships with Garai, Dario, and Riddel could use some
exploration. He may have an inadequate-second-son complex, and
I wouldn't be at all surprised if he also had an unrequited crush on Riddel.
h. Radius: We know a little bit about his relationship with Garai, but he must
have known Garai's sons (and Karsh, since he was always hanging out with
Dario), General Viper, and Riddel. Could he have been a fond uncle to Riddel?
How did he and Viper get along? If he saw "action on the continent", did he run
into Guile, Magus, Kid, any of the Porrean characters, or any of the Chrono
Trigger PCs there?
i. Steena: In one universe, she's a shaman's assistant, but in the other, she's a
full shaman herself. How did she accede to that position? Presumably, it
must have been a tragic turn of events . . . And why does she feel obliged
to take up Garai's legacy?
j. Norris, Luccia, and Grobyc: Again, this trio have related backstories--Grobyc
was created in Luccia's brother's lab, and Norris knew him, or at least of him,
at the time. Who was Grobyc before he became a cyborg (yeah, I know, he's
supposed to have been created in the lab, but . . .)? Maybe one of
Norris' men? Did Norris know Luccia's brother? There might even be a
potential for a romantic relationship somewhere in this mess . . .
There's also the whole Luccia/Marcy/Zelbess thing--what was going on there?
k. Zoah: Why does he constantly wear a helmet and SPEAK IN ALL CAPS?
Could he be disfigured by an old injury, or possibly deformed? Or a
demi-human who's trying to conceal his nature (requiring a daily body-shave)?
l. Fargo, Nikki, and Marcy: Another linked group. Again, the original game
does give us some backstory, but nothing is ever really done with the
relationship between Another World's Fargo and Nikki, and Marcy's
relationship to both is virtually ignored. Did either of the children
inherit any of their mother's non-human characteristics? How do they
feel about having been abandoned, and how does Fargo feel about
having had to do it? On a side note, what really happened between
Viper and Fargo?
m. Leena: She has some interesting potential. What are her feelings as
she tags along with Serge and sees him and Kid increasingly falling
for each other? Might she try to strike up a relationship with one
of the other eligible males in the group? Depending on who her new
romantic interest turned out to be, this could be either touching or comedic.
(Possibilities: Glenn, Guile, Norris, Pierre, Zoah? Or could she get sucked
in by Magus' mystique? Or become a Nikki groupie?)
And then there's Miguel. I mean, come on. If her missing father was
going to pop up in the story, there should have been some character
development for Leena with respect to him!
n. Miki: What is her relationship with Nikki? Brother-sister? Or maybe
she has a one-sided, unrequited romantic interest? Did they grow up
together? Nikki has to have been somewhere after Fargo left him . . .
o. Sprigg: She would know Magus--might she suspect something about
him?
p. Skelly: So how did he end up becoming an animated skeleton, anyway?
Magus' idea of a joke (or an experiment)? An accident with Luccia?
q. Leah: Okay, so, who *is* her father, and what happened to him?
r. Sneff: A middle-aged gambling addict . . . lots of scope for tragedy
there, although it would be of the mournful-country-and-western,
"My wife left me, and she took my truck and my dog--sure miss
that dog" variety. Could he have known Sprigg previously? Was
she the one who fed him that berry?
s. Pierre: *Why* does he want so badly to be a hero?
t. Orlha: Having the Tia/Orlha enigma actually *explained* would be
nice.
7. Music/Design Suggestions for the Magus Goes Berserk Ending
These have to be chosen to reflect the innate tragedy of both versions
of the ending.
For the battle: A good remix of "Sealed Door" from Chrono Trigger,
or, as a slight cop-out, "Prisoners of Fate", should be played.
Physically, it still takes place in the Darkness Beyond Time.
For the branch where Magus dies: "Girl who Stole the Stars" or (again)
"Prisoners of Fate" would probably be the most appropriate music.
(If we don't want to recycle something from CC, "Sora" from the
Escaflowne movie sountrack or "Dai Fuuin" from Utawarerumono
would also be workable, although I suppose they'd be difficult to
hack in.) Ideally, the credits should be rolled over an image of Schala
and chibi-Janus as they would have appeared during the old days of
Zeal.
For the branch where Magus wins and goes psychotic: The only
music I can think of that would be appropriate to this series of events
is the vocal portion of "Grace ~ Omega" from Jin-Roh: The Wolf
Brigade, which is enough to send shivers up my spine even though
I *collect* depressing music. It's about two-and-a-half minutes long,
but if more running time turns out to be necessary there should be a
way to blend it smoothly into the ~2 additional minutes of mostly-
violin instrumental at the end of the song. "Prisoners of Fate" would
sound like a weak cop-out by comparison, In My Arrogant Opinion.
The credits should be run over a static version of the Nadia's Bell
background, to symbolize history repeating itself at Magus' hands.
8. General Plot Stuff
The big problem with the original Cross plot is that information is
not provided early enough in small enough chunks. A Mysterious
Prologue AMV involving Serge and Schala might help a bit in this
regard. Have Harle make remarks about the dragons. Sprigg or
Luccia might know some relevant information, or Norris might
have accumulated some scraps while he was spying in Viper Manor
that only make sense in hindsight. Magus, even with his memory
fuzzed, would be invaluable for dropping hints. Kid might even
remember things Lucca had mentioned. Needless to say,
Schala's name *must* come up earlier in the game than it actually
does.
There are also large sections where there are no really strong
plot drivers. Having Dark Serge take over portions of the Archipelago
and hunt for Serge/Lynx might help for that part of the plot (there
would have to be some excuse why he didn't just off him after the
body-switch, though). There might also be bits where a hot pursuit
of Serge (or even "Norris the Traitor"?) by the Porreans might
help.
Poll