I'll bite.
How I fell in love with Chrono Trigger is quite simple. I read the review in Game Player's magazine, and given that it was awarded a whopping 95%, I realized I had to get it I can't remember if I rented it or not, but my parents gave to it me after I said I wanted it (please note that I did not ask or beg them for many games) and they got it for me. I still have the cartridge, but I haven't put it in my SNES for years.
I fell in love with Chrono Cross as it was a sequel to Chrono Trigger, but I was amazed at how musically it was a flawless game, and how well the music was weaved into the gameplay. The graphics were astounding, and while the battle system confused me at first, I ended up liking it even better than Chrono Trigger. If only they had made the Chrono Cross more apparent to access in the game itself (The first time I beat the game, I actually thought it didn't have an ending!)
That being said, as much as I loved the games, they didn't become my absolute all time favorites despite the various playthroughs, and to an extent, both are still on the lower tier of the "games I can't live without" level. That's not because of any flaws -- I just liked Final Fantasy III and Ogre Battle more (and still do). What got me to the Compendium, then, isn't my direct love for Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, but my love for CVRPG and spriting.
Quite a few years ago, I met the creator of CVRPG before he actually created it. He showed me the comic, which at the time was only 20 issues long. If you look at the sprites used, many of them seem like edits (although upon closer inspection, there are some subtle differences between the styles of CVRPG sprites and CT sprites) and it showed me the power of this particular sprite style. Up until then, I had only considered Street Fighter Alpha and Darkstalkers style sprites.
Some time later, I got it into my foolish head that if Akira Toriyama designed both, surely there must be a treasure trove of fan CT-style DBZ sprites. After all there are tons of Final Fantasy fan sprites of everything, but even the most well done of those sprites seemed to lack the distinctiveness necessary to capture the essence of the characters. To my chagrin, aside from an animated Goku that I forgot to save, there was nothing. So, since I failed to convincingly edit Street Fighter sprites, I tried to edit CT sprites into DBZ characters. When I had done a few, I posted them on the forums. However, given the less than enthusiastic response, I left here after a post or two -- after all the people here were die-hard fans who knew the game inside and out, and I really didn't feel like I fit in. Furthermore, I later realized how terrible the sprites were and I eventually decided to give up the idea of arranging pixels as I was not getting better at it, unlike most people who put an effort into it.
Then came the whole "situation" we all know about. The sad thing is that since I'm not into that scene, I would have never learned about the project if it weren't cancelled and the backlash were felt across the Internet. Of course, when I heard about it, I was pretty mad upon realizing the enormity of what was forever denied. I'm more miffed at the double standard Square Enix showed. The Compendium and any projects stemming from it, at least on the occasions I visited, did not promote a single person's agenda but was always about the games that make up the Chrono series, never asking for a dime in return. Such fan devotion is rare and should be applauded. Meanwhile, there are those who openly profit from Square Enix's copyright, laugh off criticism about their fan work, and are not served with cease and desist notices but still go on in their arrogance unchecked and build professional careers from it.
So in a sense, I pop in from time to time to remind myself that there are people out there who don't let their egos get to the best of them, and to secretly steal sprites so I can make better CT-style edits...oh wait, I typed that last part out. Well, as long as I delete it and don't hit Alt + S I should be fanta--
