ILG Player's Club plays Chrono Trigger

http://goodmorningcrono.com/

Rules are simple: you just need to start playing the game now. System is unimportant. Folks what have played it before (or just the curious) are welcome to join in the discussion.

I'm tackling this on my DS. This marks my second attempt at playing this game; I was something less than blown away by the first thirty minutes and my attention wandered. I'll do my best to have a serious go at it now. CT came out in a period when I signed off games very briefly, so I missed it in its original run.

First things first: who's in, what system are you using and have you played the game before?

I'll do it. I'm using an emulator. I'm worried I'll just fall really behind everyone else, though. But I'll try.

Oh, and I've played the game before, but it was several years ago, and after about 6-7 hours I lost interest. Still, I've been meaning to give it a go again.

Oh, I'm likely gonna be slow as shit at this cause I'm also reading this big ass 750 page novel (Humes' The Underground City) and doing a zillion other things at the same time so I'd be very surprised if I get ahead of you.

That's great! Actually, I'm thinking of getting it on DS, because starting tomorrow I have a 20-30 minute train ride every morning and evening to work. I could get in an easy 5 hours a week on the train alone, and then add in a few more at home and keep up.

i'm waiting until i find out if i'm employed again next week to decide whether to get the DS version or not : /

i have played this before tho - it's about a guy, with hair

...and it starts at a fair. I've actually started and stopped CT several times, usually without progressing beyond the fair. I'm really dreading playing through that fucking fair again.

I have this on my R4 cart. Thinking about playing it. Probably would have gotten a lot out of it had I played it during my formative years. Don't know if I would join you guys though - I would probably use a walkthrough/FAQ for the same reason that I'd use a skill tree guide for Diablo II; can't stand the fact of playing through a RPG and not getting every super item and best character ever.

Yep, the fair is about as far as I got too. I just convinced my girlfriend to play this on her DS at the same time (for as long as it holds her attention) so we're about to go downstairs and put in a half an hour on dual ds chrono action.
god we're nerds

The Fair? Seriously? Isn't that under 15 minutes?

I'll begin this tonight on DS. I'm so pumped b/c I've heard so much about it and it has been a long time since I played an old-school RPG (as you've heard me whine on other threads). I know nothing about this game except that it's an old-school and RPG, and caek's comment on the end-of-year thread that it in some way resembles the film I Heart Huckabees (about which I know nothing either, but I was intrigued). I don't really play RPGs for completeness or stats maxing, I play for grinding (let's be honest) toward leveling (what I do with the level isn't as important as the dopamine rush of leveling), and stories (RPGs are as close as I typically get to fiction).

idk if i'm on board for this - i havent played it in a decade+, but i've also beaten it at least 17-20 times (probably almost as many times as that crazy guy who was really demonstrative about wanting us to know he was playing it in japanese), but mb it's worth a stroll down mammary lane~~

i'm also really absorbed in kotor rn and dont wanna stop to play something else

also if ure doing it i think u still need to structure the discussion a lil bit, ie. have proper stopping points for everyone to talk about and shit

there's also always the danger that it might not live up to your memory... i have a limited number of good memories from my childhood and like to keep them sorta sacred, so I'd understand if you're not in.

Couldn't get past the fair again last night... keep trying to get enough silver points to win all the prizes in the tent and get hung up trying to fight the robot or jump on the lever+bell...

canks are you playing kotor 1 for the first time? on pc?

on xbox, and ya first thyme

(it's amazing btw)

iirc a couple of those fair games are rigged btw

cankles did u give up on beating xcom @ higher difficulty?

ive spent a lot of time w/ the game already & am pretty devoted to blazblue right now but id be into talking about ct tho - still have my snes copy around

KOTOR was maybe the last PC game I really got into; it's probably my fave Star Wars game of all time.

hah, no, i beat xcom @ higher difficulty - wasnt that difficult imo http://i43.tinypic.com/dggkra.jpg

yeah it's definitely the best SW game i've played - what's funny is i can see all the parallels to baldur's gate, but the qualities i found annoying in that game i have no problem with in this one. i think i have to face facts that the sword and sorcery trappings really just drag a game down for me

oh man, if i had time i would do this...as it is i have approx 2 hours/week for video games and i'm trying to play far cry 2 and point lookout. it would be a good excuse to get that DS reissue.

i played CT for the first time right after i graduated college, in the couple weeks before i got a job, on my roommate's SNES. i don't remember doing anything with my days but going for runs and playing CT. fond memories.

kotor >>>>> baldur's gate in pretty much every aspect imo

plus, just.... runnin around doin thangs is more fun than point and click shit

lol subtle suggestion that ilg should replay secret of mana instead?

if we could actually get some kind of emu netplay going that would be AMAZING

probably won't happen, though

also lamp, you are totally otm about KOTOR vs. Baldur's Gate. It is also true about pretty much any other Black Isle-related RPG that came out during that era

lmao honestly i would be a lot more interested in replaying SoM! mostly because it's been a loooot longer since i've played it

"i don't remember doing anything with my days but going for runs and playing CT."
This is my goal for August!

started this tonight and I've def. got the bug already; leveled a bunch just playing normally, w/o grinding; beat Yakra, so that's where I'm at. Nice story too, with the Back to the Future-like time travel, "oh no she's being erased" thing. I screwed around in the fair a bit, beat the bell a bunch but then failed at the horror house game; whatever. I stupidly saved $ at the fair when I could have used better armor later on; now I've got like 3000 gold but since I finished the "find the queen" thing I should be able to find a store next. But yeah, I have to work tomorrow and then it's right back to this one. Fabulous.

canks you have beaten ct "17-20 times"?? is that that many playthroughs or 13 endings plus like four other playthroughs? either way i think you have qualified to moderate this discussion by picking the first set of stopping points for discussion ¬_¬

i am still playing dragon quest viii* and i am not sure i can cope with two lots of characters with horrible toriyama fetal alcohol syndrome-head thing going on, i might have to catch up later. for those of u who have played the game previously and wish to follow along there is a worryingly thorough let's play; that's, sadly, the least packed with terrible humour. (haha someone compared ILG to the somethingawful forums on ILE the other day, what in the hell)

*cough and er fallout 3 and odin sphere. lol funemployment

all the endings plus a few extra playthroughs, yeah - all of this was by, like, age 13 mind u

lol u read LP now?

it is a clever resource to stop me actually going back and playing any of the games in question

first stopping point is probably after everyone beats the cathedral in 600 AD?

looool thomp what do u think of odin sphere? im a HUGE stan for that game.

yeah it's definitely the best SW game i've played - what's funny is i can see all the parallels to baldur's gate, but the qualities i found annoying in that game i have no problem with in this one. i think i have to face facts that the sword and sorcery trappings really just drag a game down for me

― born s1ocki (cankles), Monday, July 20, 2009 4:11 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Ohhh man better than TIE Fighter? I will have to pick it up

lamp i thought after the cathedral was where euler just got to? my memory of the game may be wonky.

odin sphere haha ER i can't decide if i hate it or not:

on some other thread someone said of it 'anime ruins everything' — totally get that — otoh, having just finished the first book, the demands on player/reader empathy have gone so far past the reasonable as to be almost interestingly alienating. i doubt that was what they were shooting for, though. aaaaaaaaand i would probably be less annoyed when the gameplay slips up (which it does) if i didn't have to watch these little wideyed idiots talk for hours alla time

the combat, every so often, seems to turn into "stay BEHIND the enemy. BEHIND" a lot. which is annoying. i wish it didn't pause when you looked at items - that stops it from ascending into proper action game zen "don't think, feel" business. and there's some annoying cheapnesses or just stuff that hasn't been playtested enough to quite be right - there was one boss that doing a combo on from the left hand side you'd pass through, but from the right hand side you wouldn't - which w/ the 'stay BEHIND' thing became really quite annoying for obv reasons

never played TIE fighter - i guess the best previous SW game i've played is jedi outcast, which isnt saying much

Tie Fighter is great; KOTOR is about two steps ahead.

Aw man you guys have me looking at prices for KOTOR. Any idea if the Mac version is good or should I just play it safe and go for the PC one?

never got past the first planet in kotor, didn't like the combat and dialogue trees gave me option paralysis.

i am basically never playing anything with a name like 'knights of the old republic'

unless it is eg. a counterfactual about oliver cromwell

odin sphere.

shh.

lamp i thought after the cathedral was where euler just got to? my memory of the game may be wonky.

yah sounds like it - but its the 1st major milestone i think? QUEST #1 COMPLETED and all that

item mgmt and use was probably the worst thing in odin sphere but i didnt really care about the tactical breakdown stuff i guess - i mean i see what your saying but theres enuff variety/challenge in the boss fights that it never bothered me is the boss fite your talking about velvet because i dont remember that tbh...

lol @ caring about the story in odin sphere tho who cares it looks pretty

lolz my ?!r@+3D copy of this hit a snag at the very first teleport and now I'm having to start over again at the FUCKING FAIR

lol

if only i could find a youtube link to a certain Big Star song, but i can't

Ha forks, exactly the same thing has happened to me, went into a teleport and the game hung. And I must've sat watching the screen swirl around for about 4 minutes before I realised it was broke.

I hadn't spent long in the fair though, just bought some armours then ploughed on through. Will try it again on the train to work this morning.

I beat the cathedral; not sure it said anything like quest #1 completed, though. Toad (well, I called him Turd) walked out of the castle in shame for failing to protect the queen, and I guess I'll be going to get him back next since he was a badass in combat.

The balance between melee and magic is nice even at this early stage. Lucca isn't great with the airgun but her magic is booming. Often in RPGs I end up sitting on magic on much later in the game, when it becomes pretty much the only thing I use in combat.

I just played Chrono Trigger for over an hour

ayla was putting up 9999's when i was mercing reptites earlier, plus she got some fat titties

i would like to have as a ringtone that insane grinding noise that lavos makes

I'm loving that it doesn't really matter because it frees me to try other combos and still kick ass. I need to play Ayla more; so far I've only used her when it's forced me to.

yeah i never thought about it before but it is unique how all the characters kick quite a bit of ass - usually there's a bunch of useless ass mofos who u never use

I'm hoping Marle and Ayla have a cat fight for Chrono at the end. That, or Chrono keeps the Wings of Time but sends the two to their different eras and so can keep them both without conflict.

i feel like there IS an ending where chrono bones ayla but tbh i don't remember too many of them

I gotta aim for that one, then (btw I have no idea how to trigger different endings and will studiously avoid looking it up so as to ensure maximal surprise when Chrono marries Robo or whatever)

i wont spoil any of them, i'll just say that the mechanics for getting them are all the same - basically just choosing to jump ahead & fight the final boss at different points in the game's story, which is an option u get in new game+

sorry for the quality

http://i28.tinypic.com/vgl7gi.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/29krm9i.jpg

i feel like there IS an ending where chrono bones ayla but tbh i don't remember too many of them

pretty sure theres one where lucca comes out as a lesbian but its hard 2 get~~~~

I hope there's one where Chrono IS Lucca, Smokey Is The Bandit-style.

i regret not changing Magus to Fagus

i loooove the idle animations on the world map screen - also i love when you leave robo w/fiona to replant the forest and every time you go back to 600 AD he is doing a different agricultural ass activity, like wearing a bandana and planting seeds or turning into a tractor and shit

beat it

somehow it is even more amazing than ever... japan really shoulda just packed it in after this one

I made it to the Lavos fight last night, beat the series of "Lavos changes his attack modes" and then got wiped out on the next battle by surprise; I guess I hadn't healed enough and so one of his big attacks took out everyone all at once. Blah. Should I just aim at one side first?

is that the one with the giant arms? i liked to do full screen attacks w/that one... they regenerate, so dont worry too much about killing them off, just get them out of the way when u can

yeah like blast with luminaire? I thought I was doing fine until BLAST fuck what happened? I guess it was cool to see the world end.

yeah, luminaire is your daisy cutter anyway - i'm never not using it when crono's in my party

when i beat it just now my party was magus/frog/lucca, so i would do dark matter w/magus and the firefrog double tech w/frog and lucca (forget what it's called, the one that's a giant ass frog that is also on fire)

i prefer ayla / robo / frog for the final battle because their triple tech can take out the left lavos bit in one blow, and cure wave is the best way to keep your party in shape. and also because they are my favourite characters.

I won! This has a terrific ending, too. I think I'll play again, though maybe not until tomorrow.

okay, now that i got the robot, i'm starting to get in the groove a bit here. wish i could carve out some multi-hour playing periods.

in new game + i went to the right telepod after marle joined @ the fair, beat lavos, and this is where im at right now:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/fez_/ct.jpg

??
:B

lol this thread is so insanely spoilery

mods delete that post plz

tempting

lol I started another game last night b/c I can't quit Marle...and b/c I read some walkthroughs and apparently Magus has a bunch of spells that I never got! He only has 3 spells, Lightning 2, Ice 2, Fire 2 (I think), but apparently he can get a bunch more. And Ayla evidently has some great spells but I didn't use her enough to get them (I won with Chrono, Marle and Lucca just blasting the fuck out of Lavos). And I think Robo has more too. So I'm going to focus on Magus, Ayla, and Robo. It's funny replaying it because obviously I'm walking through all the battles that were tough at first, but it's still taking time to do it because of loading time etc.

What's the earliest point I can fight Lavos at? I guess I have to get to the End of Time at least?

hahaha nope.

let me put it this way, don't even consider it until you've finished New Game + at least once

(trying to get to/beat Lavos before End of Time)

yeah I'm just level 50 now so that's prob. right

magus has HIDDEN TRIPLE TECHS that u need special items to use... it owns prettty hard

Yeah I think I have the special items now (bunch of gemstones) but I don't even have Dark Matter! Which according to walkthroughs is a pretty fine spell.

hell yes

you have to equip it on one of the party members who can perform the triple tech, and then have all the ppl in ur party i think

yeah but I also have to have the right max spells for each party member to allow triple techs, and that's what I don't have at present.

aaahhh right-o

Superfluity, Thy Name is Lost Sanctum

Parish criticizing the new sidequests added to the DS version, then goes into a general anti-padding rant. Sounds like they're not worth the trouble, and it's not like the game really needed more content, but it doesn't seem like they usually succeed in these remake additions.

Huh. I think I skipped the Lost Sanctum on my first playthrough. Maybe I'll try it this time (I'm playing on DS). S/he's right that the game is short enough to make a second playthrough worthwhile. I took about 25 hours on my first playthrough. The Black Omen was a pretty badly designed dungeon I thought, way too much walking through vast boring empty spaces. I guess it showed how cavernous the ship is, but for little payoff. And the combat was dumb by that point too, because I could kill everything in it without magic or healing.

S/he makes a nice point regarding the lengths of contemporary RPGs also. I got burned out on Oblivion, because I have completist tendencies, but after 120+ hours I'd had enough of fetch quest and weak plot (by then I'd long dispensed with the final quest). It was a pity because the assassination quests were actually interesting (relatively speaking) but I just didn't want to be in that universe anymore by then. Plus my 360 started locking up on one of those quests, both the first time and on further reloads from save. So CT's brevity was a virtue I appreciated.

JEREMY parish is a dude btw

Okay, I'm officially quitting this as I'm just not enjoying it. Glad I gave it a college try but it's just not quite doing it for me.

did you ever finish this forks

lol, i did not enjoy it! my secret shame. just lost interest and never got back into it.

this is such a great thread. i should be unemployed and play videogames again

its a good racket if you can get your foot in the door

for shame!!!

hacked my SNES mini. Wasn't sure I'd be able to play another top-down RPG after Earthbound but here I am. I'm really gutted I didn't go in the Tent of Terror before zapping myself back 1000 years :-(

I can't stop listening to this too: https://open.spotify.com/track/713XSUuab0bJX0AGFWUsxd <- one of the best bits of music in a 16 bit game I can think of. Wish there were more decent orchestrated versions of SNES game soundtracks on Spotify

sometimes I wanna tell people about the feels I get off this game and then I realise I'm being a weirdo so I'm saying it here

it's incredible