Across Chronos - September
25, 2000 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot. I finished the program, but I still want a pass by
reference.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Not much to talk about except Cross, which is exhaustively
covered below. But let me get this out of the way: Full Chrono Cross and Trigger spoilers on
all letters below!
Also AK wanted me to mention that he isn't married,
and very much in
play. So if you're an attractive single woman aged 18 or older who
enjoys RPGs and letters columns... well, send me a letter, and I'll
forward at least some of them over to AK.
Maybe.
Onward.
| Just one thing |
| Chris,
I only want to know ONE thing. ARE THEY DEAD!?!?
When you go to the final battle, if you talk to Lucca
with Kid in your party, she says this; "I'm sorry we
caused you so much pain, Kid. You see, we don't exist
in this timestream anymore."
What the heck is that? Did Yamenko go back and kill
them all...or did they escape to another time?
Or...what?
Now, here's my theory. They are still alive. I know
this because of the events that happened in
Chronopolis. Harle was afraid of Kid, afriad of what
she could do if she touched the frozen flame? Why?
Becuase anyone who touched it could change anything
their heart wanted. And kid wanted Lucca back. So,
she changed the past, but she caused a paradox. How
could she get back to this point in time without Lucca
perishing/leaving? So, she got stuck in her now
defunct past. Kid could have "wished" her away, in a
Dragonballish way.
At least...that could be one theory.
Terminator |
Wow. I don't remember that line at all, and I talked to Lucca at
least twice with Kid in my party.
Regardless, I don't see why they'd be gone one way or another.
Regardless of if Lavos was defeated or not, Crono (hah! spelled it
right for once!) and company would still be around. In fact, a major
plot point of the game was that so much was going wrong because of
counterstrikes against Crono's actions, so I'm inclined to say they
weren't written out of existence somewhere.
Of course, that's not to say that they all didn't meet horrible,
violent deaths at some point in time (as is implied by what happened to
Lucca and the CT remake endings), but at least they were actually
around to experience said horrible, violent deaths.
| Very telling |
| Your name is Jonas,
Sorry, I couldn't help but add one little chip to the CC pool.
I don't see many people complaining about this, but it seems that Cross' plot
could've been a hell of a lot better if the writers had taken a creative
writing class, and learned about the basic concept of "Telling vs. Showing."
It's bad to simply say, this happened, this happened, this meant this,
especailly when revealing several such revelations in a row, right before the
last boss. I don't want to get into spoilers, but I'm sure you know what I'm
talking about. Almost every plot twist was simply explained to you after the
fact. I think I would have been much more involved with the story had they
allowed the player to participate in these past events, as they did with the
Orphanage scene. That was one of the few moments when I truly cared about the
charactors.
All in all, the game just didn't have a lot of "moments" (you know, the parts
that make you happy to be an RPGer, like the cliff scene in FF6). Had they
allowed you to experience more of the plot, the game would have had more
pull. Instead, the game has a very peacefull and lazy pace, while the major
plot events happen outside of your perception. Then you suddenly reach the
end and the designers went "DAMN!!! We forgot to explain the plot!! Ah, hell
with it, will just explain everything that happened in a few long winded text
boxes."
Overall I loved the game, but I think it was more due to the asthetics, the
battle system, and its overall charm. This design team is odd because CC and
Xenogears are horribly flawed games, and they're still two of my favorites.
They took two games that could have been the best video games ever, and
ruined them to the point where they were only two of the best RPG's on the
Playstation. Telling vs. showing was what killed Chrono Cross. Don't get me
started on Xenogears.
-Sickpigman
P.S. My friend is convinced that Marle is also a clone of Scala because the
dress that she wears at the end looks like Marle's, and because they both
have blonde hair. Please tell him that he is an idiot. Thank you. |
Letters have been sent advancing the Crono & Marle == Serge & Kid
theory before, but I don't buy it. In fact, one of the things I liked
so much about CC was that the writers resisted the urge to make
everybody related to everyone else - Serge plays much better if he's
just some random kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or
something.
I agree with you about the show vs. tell complaint, but I think
you've got to keep in mind that these are RPGs we're talking about
here. In fact, I can't think of too many RPGs that don't tell more than
they should... except of course for the Final Fantasy endings, and
then everybody complains that things are "too vague". Fact of the
matter is, I think we're going to be stuck with long expository
passages of dialog as long as games continue to be centered around
saving the world from the sf/fantasy device of the month, which is to
say, for some time to come.
| Roy G Biv - NOT! |
| Hey Chris,
How the hell do I go about setting up the 6 elements (yellow, red, green,
blue, black, white) during the final battle with Time Devourer so that I can
use the Chrono Cross element [to get the 'real' ending]? I've tried at
least twenty times, and each time, Time Devourer casts some random-ass
element that messes up my sequence--NEVER conincidentally the next one I
need, no, that would be too much to ask. All I want is my ending...that's
all...is it too much to ask? Why did Square have to bury the good ending
under this annoying little puzzle?
Do you have any thoughts? Have you been able to set up the elements in
order and call the Chrono Cross yourself?
Thanks bro,
Field. |
I think everyone inclined to read this column knows this by now,
but you get a different, longer, "better" ending if you can save Schala
rather than just killing off the Schala/Lavos hybrid. This is done by
casting magic in the above mentioned order (yellow, red, green, blue,
black, white) followed by the Chrono Cross spell. And don't worry if
you mess it up the first time, because casting the Chrono Cross
regenerates all your spells, including the Cross itself.
I didn't have too much problem doing this myself. One thing that
should be pointed out is that Lavos/Schala goes through a period at the
beginning where it only casts green spells. I don't know if you can
wait through this sequence or if you have to beat the Devourer up a bit
first, but after a while it'll start to cast other types of spells.
And this is where my experience starts to diverge with yours,
because I think Schala not only casts spells that complement the
pattern you're trying to set down, but she'll actually form the pattern
herself if you don't cast anything. I've only gone through it once, but Schala
helpfully tacked a black spell on to my existing spells, meaning it was
easy to call white and the CC and get the good ending. If this isn't
happening for you I don't know what to tell you.
I'm also a little ticked off by this ending, but not for the puzzle
itself - I think it's kinda cool the way it plays with your "beat the
crap out of the final boss" instincts and forces you to think a bit to
get the good ending. I just thought the evidence leading up to the
correct solution was a bit weak. There's a bit of talk about "melody"
and "harmony" leading up to the final fight, and the correct sequence
of tones and colors is played in the room with the large crystals
prior to the fight with the 7th dragon. Still, it would have been nice
for somebody to acknowledge that there was a specific sequence you
should be looking for - not giving away what the sequence is, but just
letting you know that it is out there. I tried several times to use all
colors followed by the CC to no avail, until I got on gamefaqs.com and
found the right sequence. Ah well. I still liked it better than CT's
final fight.
| Kill the wabbit, kill
the... wait, that's not right... |
| Hey Chris,
Yesterday in AK's column someone asked about the music
coming from an FFVII Commercial. There were three
commercials, two of them having Uematsu music, and one
of them with music from Gotterdammerung, an opera by
Wagner. The latter is probably what "The Grand Finale"
heard in the Mystery Men trailer.
So now that I've provided that brief nugget of info,
could you please tell me where I can get the Uematsu
piece on CD?
---Anthony James Larrea
|
No clue... although if I remember AK's column right, it was never
released outside the commercial itself. But if anybody out there can
provide this info, please send something in.
| Well, at least it
wasn't an angel |
| So I can finally talk about Chrono Cross--whoopee! Unfortunately, I
finished the game about two and a half weeks ago, so my memory ain't so good
right now regarding the game. But I did really like the way CT and CC were
tied together through things such as the Dead Sea (which was one of the
coolest RPG devices ever created). I'll not soon forget the feeling I had
(that vague, indescript feeling) when I saw Nadia's Bell in the ruined
future dimensional stratum.
One issue I do have, however. As a CT veteran, I knew right away that
Lynx wouldn't be the final villain, and that I'd get to play as Lynx (which
was cool). But out of the blue here comes Lavos again. Can we say deus ex
machina? I'm trying hard to remember why exactly we had to fight Lavos
again. I understand the concept of rescuing Schala with the Chrono Cross
(which was HARD) but it that what the whole game was geared around? Did we
jsut go through all these troubles just to discover our true mission in the
final hour of the game? Where's the villain we gain to hate? It brings
back images of FFIV, where Zeromus doesn't even rear its head until the last
two hours of the game.
Don't get me wrong, CC featured a fantastic story but I think it came
up a little bit short in the end.
-- Justin Toon, being long-winded |
Welcome to the world of Square games, my friend. Personally I was
kinda ticked off because CC's existing background material was rich
enough to provide a great final boss/theme on it's own. There was no
need to drag Schala back into it (and frankly, I never found her
that interesting a character to begin with.) After everything
else he's gone through, Serge has to go rescue some lost princess? Come
on, I thought we outgrew that with the original Zelda...
| I think he's Ashley
Riot in disguise |
| Hey Agent,
"How's the weather." A little question for you -- what's your take on
the whole Magus / Guile issue?
For those who don't know, in Radical Dreamers, there was a character in
place of Guile who looked a lot like Guile and was named Magil, and who,
towards the end of the game, revealed himself to be Magus, who was
searching for Schala. This ties into the whole letter scene in Luccia's
lab. Here's the deal -- the letter scene was also in Radical Dreamers.
However, Square will point out that even though Guile is based on Magil,
Guile is Guile, and NOT Magus. That was an element of the game which
they chose to leave out. However, they felt the letter scene was still
fitting for the game, so left that one in there.
Now, in an interview, Square developers who worked on CC commented that
the reason they used Guile rather than Magil was because they couldn't
see themselves giving the whole Magus tie-in proper treatment without
adding a good 30 hours to the game, which was just too much. Rather
than butcher it, they thought they'd leave it completely out (who knows,
maybe we'll see that in a third Chrono game). This, of course, upset
some "CT H4RDC0R3!" fans who wanted to see Magus again so badly.
So what's your take? Good decision? Bad decision?
Jeremy Steimel |
The weather is overcast, rainy, windy, and about 50. In other
words, great stuff.
Again, I never found the Magus/Schala subplot that compelling to
begin with, so I don't much miss having Magus-as-Magus as part of the
the game. (And in a way, this makes me incredibly avant guarde,
because I was burned out on "RPG badasses with long white hair" well
before Sepiroth.) So I'm cool with Guile being Guile. And like you say
- if Magus is still wandering around, then maybe we can get a
third game that tells us what happened with the Masamune and Guardia
kingdom in 1005.
| Just pay for the damn
thing already... |
| As an employee of Babbage's I thought it necessary to share my knowledge as
to why these retailers are encourageing people to pay their systems off in
advance. Being on the inside sure is great sometimes.
Anyway, sony has already announced that they have a very limited quantity on
PS2's to ship on launch date. I think it was about a million or so. Now
consider the fact that all those units have to go out to all the retailers
that sell video games. Babbages, EB, K-b Toys
Toys-r-us and more i cant even think of right now. Then those companies have
to send those units out to all of their stores, nationwide. And then there's
all those warehouses that will need some for those internet sites. I mean
it's pretty obvious that the demand for this thing if exceeding the supply.
And to tell you the truth, Babbages, the wonderful lot of people that they
are, could care less if YOU got a system or not. They just want you hard
earned sweat money. So this is how it works. You pay for your system in full
by launch date, then we guarentee it, even if you cannot come and pick it up
within the initial 24 hr pickup period we give all our reservation
customers. If you dont have it paid for in full, and you dont pick it up
within the first 24 hrs. that we get it into the store, we have to sell it
to someone else. Simple as that. What happens then is we give it to someone
who is on the second wave shipment waiting list and they get bumped up to
the first wave again only if they have theirs paid in full. I know it sucks
but hey. These systems technically belong to Babbages and EB so i guess they
can do whatever they want with them right? THe nice thing is that you don't
have to pay for your system all at once though. If you wanna put down 20
dollars here and 50 dollars there, you can. Do the layaway thing. If that's
still an issue, then maybe you really need to think about if it's worth
having it at all...
chaoticmagus
Standing by his theory that Serge is really Magus. C'mon, you know it's
true. |
Sounds reasonable - Sony has built up a huge amount of hype
surrounding the PS2, and now it's calling the shots to all the
salivating gamers out there who think the PS2 is the must-have item of
the year. In a way I see this as payback for all the people who
wouldn't buy a Dreamcast because "the PS2 is so much better and it's
right around the corner." Yeah, it is... if you can afford it, if
you're one of the lucky million, and if you don't mind waiting another
couple of months for some good games to come out.
I'm sorry to sound so gleeful about this, but the more I think
about it, the less I care about the PS2, prior to MGS2's release. While
everybody else is killing themselves trying to justify getting a $300
DVD player without a good remote, I'll be playing Skies of Arcadia and Grandia
II, thanks all the same.
| Problems... or are
they? |
| Chrono Cross. For the most part, this was a good game.
However, like most of Square's recent crop of games, there are some
problems.
1. Characters. Way too many, you are only able to use 3 at any one time,
so why did you get the ungodly number of 40+ (sorry, I forgot the exact count)?
Furthermore, the majority of the characters were just out and out ugly. Mojo,
FunGuy, NeoFio, Poshul, Draggy, Marcy (who looked like some evil KISS offspring)
and on and on. It seems to me that Square should have tried to get Akira Toriyama
to do the characters (as well as dropping the number). Some people may not like
Akira toriyama's style, but I think we can all agree he would have done all the
characters better. Imagine Draggy looking like Shen Long.
2. Ending(?). Ok, I may not be the best at RPG's, but I know I don't horribly
suck. So why did I not get an ending to the game? After I beat the last boss
(or rather, I think I did) the game went straight into ending credits. What
the hell? I was so disillusioned that I just set the game aside and have not
touched it since. Chrono Cross had a good (albeit mighty weird) story that
I needed closure too. I didn't even get a bad ending, I just got no ending at all.
3. Level Up. Stars? Stars?!? The premise is unique but it makes fighting
regular enemies next to useless. Which brings me to FFVIII and PE2. The level
up systems in these games have also been, err, unique. Square has been 'experimenting'
lately and all of their ideas have horribly sucked. This brings me to the old
adage of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.On the whole, the game was pretty good. Most other people I know who played
the game got some form of ending so as far as I know my experience is wholly
unique yet completely revolting. Ah well, I suppose it's time to whip myself
into a FFIX frenzy...
Justin Bohlman |
If you've read the above letters, you probably know by now that you
didn't get the whole picture with the ending you saw. Still, that only
addresses one of your complaints, and I still find the other two
(one in particular) pretty off base.
There are too many characters, I can't argue that... but the thing
is, everybody seems to have differing opinions on which ones should be
cut. My Mojo-phobia is well known by now, but I liked Draggy (and that
thing could kick ass). At the very least, I liked the way Draggy
looked, and wouldn't want to see him drawn Toriyama's
"1100-mile-long-tail" dragon style. Giving a more Chinese look to his
dragons is one thing, but that's just ridiculous.
And you're just dead wrong about the battle system. Of course
regular enemy battles were next to useless - that was the whole point!
It was so freaking great that every battle in the game either served a
point, or was an optional bonus that you chose to enter. If nothing
else, then Square deserves praise from every gamer on earth for
realizing that just because DQ1 and FF1 had lots of random,
exp-building battles, not every game from now until Doomsday has to
follow suit. I want to enjoy my battles, and having far fewer of them
makes that much more likely.
| And lastly, some more
questions |
| Hey Chris!
Alright, back to Chrono Cross. I'll start of with a list of points of
unclarity and contention. Here goes!
1. Where the hell did the Frozen Flame come from? Not only is it a poorly
conceived artifact (what does it do? You can do everything with it! It is a
wishing machine!), its history is never explained either. I mean , every
good artifact must have a background, otherwise it's just a useless plot
gimmick.
2. Harle was the seventh dragon, and was "produced" by the six other
dragons, locked up by Fate. How did they create her? By using the
oh-so-conveniently omnipotent Frozen Flame?
3. Before the story took place, Serge almost drowned. He was saved by
Schala in one world, but not the other. Why? And how?
4. What's the overtly implied connection between Harle and Kid (same
fortunes, same facial characteristics)?
5. Why is Fate's base called "Project Kid"?
6. Kid is a manifestation of Schala. But how did she end up in the world
and time the game takes place, close to where Lucca lives, no less?
I really don't have any satisfactory answers to most of these questions,
and that's what bugs me most about htis game. I mean, I loved Xenogears' and
Final Fantasy VII's ambiguity, because I could come up with a theory that
was, to me, close enough to being conclusive. But this game just doesn't
give me enough to work with.
A lot of these questions are discussed on gamefaqs.com (terrageist's
story guide) and I agree with the theories for questions 2 and 4 : Harle was
created in the image of Schala too, because she is actually the dragons'
mistress (um, female master, I mean), being part of the Time Devourer and
all. But because she's created by the dragons she gets the look of a beast,
and Kid gets the look of a beauty because she's created by Schala.
Right, what do you think, Chris?
Sir Farren, unboggling his mind |
1. It was part of Lavos, and as such contained a lot of energy which
could do amazing things if properly directed. No problems there.
2. The dragons, by all accounts, were hooked in to nature in some
very deep, primal way, and were the products of an extremely advanced
civilization (the Reptites) to boot. It doesn't strain my credibility
that they could put together a person at will.
3. I'm fuzzier on this, but I think that Serge surviving or not
surviving was what split the worlds in two to begin with. His
resurrection by Lucca's computer virus was what created the second
world... and as Lucca said at the beach, he really was supposed to
die.
4. I don't think there's any connection between Harle and Kid, but
I'm probably in the minority on this one.
5. Dunno... but I thought it was pretty damn cool when I read the
sign.
6. Because that's where Schala created her. Schala's outside the
timestream, so presumably this isn't too difficult.
As to your theory, I simply don't know - but the idea of two
different parts of Schala embodied in two different clones does have a
certain appeal to it, especially considering that both halves are
antagonistic to each other. More than that, I'll let you guys
decide.
Closing Comments:
Plenty of discussion left in this topic, so send me whatever you
got. That's all for now. Later.
-Chris Jones, pronounces
Serge as "Surge" in his head |
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